In pictures: Maya's early days

Big cat expert Giles Clark takes in vulnerable Maya, a five day old black jaguar. Her first four weeks are far from straight forward.

First picture of Maya at five days old. Neglected by her mother, Maya needs urgent care and Giles is making sure she has the best chance of survival.

It’s a girl! Giles meets Maya.

After assessment by Giles, he is happy that Maya looks healthy. But tiny cubs like this are very fragile and the first few hours are crucial for Giles to spot any signs of ill health.

First thing for Giles to do is get Maya on the bottle. Maya is not very happy about it! A cub can dehydrate very quickly and Maya hasn’t had milk for hours. She is also not used to a milk formula or being bottle-fed, so Giles has his work cut out.

Giles’ daughter Sam meets Maya for the first time.

Maya’s first morning at home. The night was long for Giles with feeding every 3 hours, but Maya makes it through the most crucial hours.

There are fifty other cats at The Big Cat Sanctuary, including cheetah male Martin. Martin gets daily training to give him a well-rounded life in captivity.

Tiny Maya needs care around the clock and goes with Giles to work.

Another bottle-feed, Maya is really getting the hang of this! At this age, she will need about 250 ml of milk per day.

Maya’s first weighing. At 1.6 kg she is healthy for her age.

Maya’s first poo! In the wild a jaguar’s mother will lick it to stimulate it to go to the toilet. Giles prefers rubbing Maya’s bum with some water and gauze.

Giles travels to Cambodia to find out for himself what clouded leopards are facing in the wild. The illegal wildlife trade is worth approx. 18 billion pounds globally and causing massive decline in wildlife numbers in South East Asia.

Maya is getting very used to life in the house. In fact, she is turning into a real madam.

Maya’s health suddenly deteriorates and Giles will do anything to find out what is wrong. She needs to be sedated at a renowned veterinary hospital for further investigation.