The Jaguar Panthera onca

Worshipped as a god by the ancient Aztec and Maya civilisations. In the 1970's, slaughtered in its thousands for the fur trade. Now it is extinct in El Salvador. Exterminated from much of Mexico. In many areas, shot on sight by farmers.

The Ocelot Leopardus pardalis

Also sacred to ancient peoples. In modern times its patterned coat has been its death warrant. In 1979 in Latin America over one thousand were killed every day.

The Margay Leopardus wiedii

The most acrobatic of all cats, it performs gymnastic feats in the treetops in pursuit of its prey. Arguably the world's most beautiful cat, it too has been slaughtered for its skin.

In many countries in Latin America you see wild cats for sale as pets. They will have been captured from the wild. In the amount of money involved, wildlife trade is second only to drug trafficking. These cats are endangered species. Although international trade in them is outlawed, there was an animal dealer operating in Belize in 1999 with the intention to catch, sell and export cats to the USA and Europe. To smuggle them across borders without being detected, cats are drugged. But this is now rare: most of the trade and abuse is domestic, confined to the cats' native countries. Behind the tourist beaches and hotels from Mexico to Panama, a sad and grisly game of exploitation is being played out. This is illegal, but as our case histories show, laws protecting wildlife are not being enforced.

How do they catch a wild cat cub or kitten? Easy - they shoot the mother.

A female margay that died trying to protect her kitten from poachers.

The orphans are crammed into tiny cages and sit in crowded markets waiting to be sold. Many of them die. They are fed maize and tortillas because this is cheaper than meat, but it can result in crippling bone deformities. Those that survive become "pets". A pet wild cat in Latin America does not enjoy the comforts of your pooch or moggy at home. It is lucky to be given meat. It will be chained to a table, or shut in a birdcage in a one-room shack. These cages are so small the cats, when they are adult, can barely turn around. The floor is of wire so that urine and faeces and uneaten food can drop through, but the wire makes the cats' feet sore. To amuse themselves, their owners will poke them with sticks to make them spit and growl. Once released from these prisons, some cats can only move in a circle, they have become so accustomed to confinement. Most times, their owners get tired of them after a year or so, when they become too wild, and so the cats are dumped - generally at the local zoo. There are only a very few good zoos in this part of the world, and they are not where these orphans end up. They go to the shabby little roadside zoos, and often have to stay in the same cages they were kept in as pets.

But NOW they have a LiFeline.

The work of LiFeline:

• provide and run a rescue center for confiscated cats
• assess whether they can be returned to the wild
• through our education programme, discourage keeping of wild cats as pets and
• press for existing legislation to be enforced

LiFeline owns a small jungle reserve in Belize. This is the project base, and here we can provide rescue and rehabilitation facilities in the cats' native rainforest. .

With proper feeding, veterinary care, and understanding, these traumatised cats do recover. We already have over ten years' experience with rescued cats like these which we have brought to our sanctuary in England. But now we have set up a center to tackle the problem at source in Central America, where we have the option to return the cats to their jungle home.

Orphaned. Abused. These cats have had their lives stolen.

At LiFeline's sanctuary, in lush rainforest in the foothills of the Maya Mountains, they can start to live again. This is a safe haven, wholly dedicated to their care and to helping them re-learn how to be cats. How to climb, run, play, to feel the rain and the sun on their fur, to walk on leaf litter instead of wire and concrete. To be alive to the sounds and scents of the jungle. To know again the heritage man has cheated them of.

When a cat is confiscated or handed in, it goes first to the hospital and isolation block for assessment, screening, and treatment if it is sick. Nutritional therapy is often needed, and large doses of patience and understanding. From here, cats go into large enclosures full of forest trees and plants where they can exhibit natural behaviours, in some cases for the first time in their lives. Natural habitat stimulates all those skills and senses that have been blunted during close confinement, and prepares cats for rehabilitation to the wild. And for those animals that cannot be returned to the wild, because of injury or other problems, living in enclosures like this is the next best option.

Shot on Sight

Man has encroached on their habitat and killed off many of their prey animals, so the big cats of the region, jaguars and pumas, come into conflict with man. Sometimes they take domestic livestock, and so in many areas these cats are shot on sight. In Belize problem cats that are caught taking cattle are at the moment simply killed. But the government wants a better solution, and has asked LiFeline to provide a holding center for these cats. The first four large enclosures for jaguars are under construction so that we can take in these cats, and we plan to build more when funds are available. Their eventual fate could be translocation to areas where they cause less damage, or as part of breeding or education programs. Either way, they will at least have a chance of survival.

The small cats like ocelot and margay also take livestock sometimes, mostly poultry, and are shot when encountered, presumed guilty. It is their kittens that find their way into the pet trade. LiFeline's associated education project, advising farmers on livestock management, will also help reduce the number of cats captured and killed.

But we can't do this work without your help.

LiFeline is registered in Belize as a non-profit and depends entirely on donations to fund its rescue center.

Each enclosure for a rescued margay costs $2,000 (£1600).

For a jaguar, $5,000 (£3,600).

It costs $15 (£11) to feed a cat for a month.

Veterinary drugs and fees, keepers' wages, rescue vehicles, fuel, posters and videos for the education program - all these come from the generosity of people like you. People who want to give wild cats a future.