Fishermen Race Boat Back To Shore After Making An Unexpected 'Catch'

 

Earlier this month, Vanderlei Rabi and a few friends went fishing on a river in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands. But it was on their way back to shore that they made their most memorable catch of all.

In the water ahead of them, Rabi saw what he thought was a capybara.

“I asked the one steering the boat to take us there to see,” Rabi told The Dodo. “When we got there, we realized it wasn’t a capybara.”

Turns out, what they’d spotted was a young jaguar cub, struggling in the water all alone.

Looking ahead to the nearest shore, Rabi spotted a mother jaguar exiting the water with other cubs in tow. Fearing that the struggling cub had been too weak to keep up with his family crossing the river, Rabi and his friends decided to help.

Using one of their fishing nets, they scooped up the exhausted jaguar cub and gave him a lift to shore.

Once on shore, the cub continued to cling to the net. Rabi and his friends moved away quickly, however, as to not scare away the cub's mother, who was believed to still be nearby.

To have been able to help was a "sensational feeling," Rabi said.

The actions of Rabi and his friends that day earned the praise of biologist Henrique Abrahão Charles, who said they acted correctly in intervening. Though jaguar cubs are natural swimmers, this cub did in fact appear to be struggling.

Though the cub was left, Charles is optimistic that a reunion with his family occurred shortly after, telling G1 Globo News:

"The cub calls the mother, he knows. The mother does not abandon the cub. They communicate. The jaguar has a very powerful sense of smell, good hearing and excellent vision. There are methods of vocalization for the cub. She will look for him, he will call for her."

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