This is Junior, a neutered male jaguar at the Belize zoo in Belize City. The Kiss of Death is actually an inside joke. My girlfriends and I visited the zoo to have the experience they called "the kiss of death" which is to go into a cage with a jaguar and have him lick your head, or so we thought. What actually happened was we were lead into the jaguar enclosure and then into a cage smaller than a compact car within the enclosure. Then they let Junior out to come and visit us. We were then able to scratch him through the chain link, touch his feet when he jumped on top of the cage and feed him chicken wings. Alas we never received the 'kiss' - turns out that is only for people with a buzz cut or or no hair at all as his scratchy tongue can scalp you. Oh and if you're wondering about the neutered part - Junior was rescued from a drug dealer's compound and is now an ambassador of sorts for the zoo and helps their efforts to save jaguars.

24" x 36"

Scratchboard and Ink

Original Artwork SOLD