Minister of Tourism Cathy Hughes on Thursday told the media that she was forced to write to Vice President and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan requesting that he remove a trophy jaguar skin down from the walls of his office.
The jaguar is Guyana’s national animal and is protected under the wildlife laws of Guyana. It is also one of the world’s endangered animals. The jaguar is featured prominently in Guyana’s many tourism magazines and official country profile and also forms part of the country’s Coat-of-Arms.
Minister Hughes said when she noticed official photographs of the Public Security Minister meeting dignitaries at his office with the sprawling jaguar skin in the background, she sent him an email with her request. She was at the time responding to a question from News Source about the presence of the jaguar skin in the Public Security Minister’s office.
Hughes said “I can show you an email that I sent to Minister Ramjattan, saying Minister, you need to take that skin down off the wall and that in this day and age when we are talking about tourism and talking about conserving species and about sustainable preservation, it is totally inappropriate”.
Tourism Minister Cathy Hughes
The Tourism Minister said she has since received a correspondence from her colleague agreeing with her point.
Animal lovers and conservation enthusiasts went to social media to complain about the Ramjattan jaguar.
The Tourism Minister said she recommended to Minister Ramjattan that he should instead use a Guyana flag or another national symbol.
Guyana will be celebrating tourism awareness month in November.
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