It was more than a year ago when a few-months-old jaguar cub in a dog kennel was abandoned at the front gates of east San Diego County's Lions, Tigers and Bears. In his short life, the jaguar — named Eddie by the facility — had already had three owners, crossed state lines and was in poor condition when he was dumped outside the animal sanctuary in the middle of the night.
"He was quite the mess. He was completely covered in his own feces. He was skinny. He had parasites and ringworm. He had a lot of missing hair on his ears and his back," said Bobbi Brink, founder of the Alpine rescue facility that rehabilitates exotic animals. "We just, of course, immediately cleaned him up and called the vet and got him, you know, got him his first physical and started feeding him properly."
The sanctuary reported the jaguar to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife. Security footage that captured the abandonment on Sept. 17, 2021, was turned over to law enforcement and an investigation was launched.
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On Wednesday, a Texas woman who allegedly sold the endangered cub, Trisha Denise "Mimi" Meyer, and a Riverside County man who bought him and re-sold him, Abdul Rahman, a.k.a. “Manny Rahman,” were both indicted for violations of the Endangered Species Act, which protects any endangered animal like the jaguar from being delivered, received, sold or transported in the U.S.; and the Lacey Act, which prohibits wildlife trafficking.
According to the World Wildlife Foundation, jaguars are the third-largest cat in the world and can weigh more than 300 pounds. The species, listed as endangered by the Secretary of the Interior in 1972, is not native to the United States but is found on South America and some parts of Central America.
Eddie was likely bred to satisfy a demand for exotic pets in the U.S. As a cub, he was used for photo ops and entertainment. Eventually, he was sold and then re-sold before he was abandoned outside the rescue facility.
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He was "probably purchased by this woman from a breeder and then, you know, toted from hotel room to hotel room or any place where she could charge people to hold the baby and do photo opportunities," Brink said.
An indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California allegedly shows photos of the woman promoting bookings with the jaguar cub. Investigators said a jaguar scientist from the San Diego Zoo helped compare spot and whisker patterns to identify the jaguar in Meyer's photos as the abandoned jaguar at Lions, Tigers and Bears.
"It's illegal to sell an endangered species. It's illegal for [Meyer] to have the endangered species. And it's definitely illegal for her to sell it across the state lines and illegal for her to cross the state lines with the animal," Brink said.
According to the indictment, Meyer sold Rahman the live jaguar cub in the spring of 2021. Federal prosecutors said Meyer sold the cub for about $30,000 and it was transported from Texas to California for an additional $1,000 fee. Rahman kept the jaguar for one to two months before selling it for $20,000 to another buyer, identified in court documents as H.G. According to prosecutors, H.G. was living with his pregnant wife or girlfriend and someone expressed concern about the jaguar being in the same home as a child.
"After the jaguar grew too large, H.G. planned to kill it but a friend of H.G's named R.A. convinced him to turn it over to a sanctuary," the criminal indictment states. "R.A. and another person drove the jaguar to Lions, Tigers and Bears on Sept. 17, 2021, after the facility was closed and the staff were gone for the day and left it at the facility's doorstep."
H.G. claims the jaguar was a "friend of a friend's" and he would occasionally be brought to his house in Corona, according to the indictment.
Photos: Eddie the Jaguar, Once Trafficked, Thrives at Alpine Animal Sanctuary
Rahman faces up to seven years in federal prison and a $600,000 fine if convicted on all charges. He's expected in court in Riverside on Nov. 9. Meyer, who has a warrant out for her arrest, faces up to eight years and a $700,000 fine. Meyer had previously been charged with child endangerment when Houston police found several wild animals roaming around her home. The charges were dropped in a plea agreement and she pleaded guilty to a theft charge.
Eddie, according to Brink, is one of the lucky ones. Other big cats bred for similar purposes are abandoned at a young age and will never make it to a facility where they will be looked after for life. Lions, Tigers and Bears is working on creating a permanent enclosure at the facility for its first jaguar.
"He is going to have a really nice habitat. Jaguars like to climb up, so we did have to make this one a little bit — just make it a little bit higher — and then we're, like, building it like a tree to climb on," Brink said. "And of course, we'll have his pond and grass and dirt and rocks
The playful cub is now a little over a year old and loves people and attention, which guests can give him by visiting the facility open from Wednesdays through Saturdays. Proceeds from visits and donations help the animal sanctuary care for the about 60 exotic animals who have been taken in by the facility.
"He's still got some growing to do, but he's super happy."
