Leo

Story:

My Story

I came to the sanctuary with my sister in February 2019. Someone had been trying to sell us, and word quickly spread through the community. When people confronted him, his story changed. He claimed he had found us alone in the forest after his dog scared our mother away while he was cutting grass.

The Alturas team went to the place he described and found what appeared to be a den. They set up a camera trap and left us there overnight, hoping our mother would return for us.

She never did.

By morning, we were still alone, and the camera showed no sign of her. So we were brought to the sanctuary, where we would be raised and carefully prepared for a possible return to the wild.

For the next year and a half, my sister and I went through a strict rehabilitation program. The team did everything they could to keep us from becoming attached to people. They wore red robes and disguised their scent. They even provided us with live prey without being present, so we could learn to hunt as wild ocelots should.

And my sister did.

When the time came for our final evaluations, she showed all the signs of a wild ocelot. She hunted, climbed confidently, avoided people, and stayed hidden.

I was different.

Instead of avoiding humans, I was drawn to them. I was curious about people and wanted to approach them. No one expected it, my sister and I had been raised in exactly the same way. But somewhere along the way, I had formed an attachment to humans that she never did.

In 2020, my sister was released into the wild.

I stayed behind.

It was a difficult decision, but releasing me would not have been safe. I might approach houses or roads, putting myself in danger, or become vulnerable to capture or conflict with people.

My story is not one of failure.

I learned. I grew. I became strong.

But my instincts took me in a different direction from my sister’s.

She found her way back to the forest.

I found my way here, and this became my home.