The Milwaukee County Zoo's 19-year-old male jaguar Pat was euthanized Monday because of kidney failure.

Pat had a unique backstory — he was born in the wild in Belize and was captured and sent to the Belize Zoo's Jaguar Rescue Center because of his penchant for killing livestock. He was rehabilitated at the rescue center, along with other wild jaguars that killed farm animals, and transferred to the Milwaukee zoo in 2008.

The vast majority of animals in American zoos are born in captivity but Pat's genetics added to the diversity of the captive jaguar population in the U.S. He sired four offspring in at the Milwaukee zoo.

Jaguars have preyed on livestock in the central America country as their habitat has been encroached by agricultural land. Instead of killing problem jaguars, Belize officials began a program to capture and rehabilitate the animals before finding homes for them in zoos.

Pat quickly became a favorite of Milwaukee zoo-goers who stopped by his den and outdoor exhibit, where Pat was usually found perched in a tree.

He was featured in a book "Pat the Great Cat" published in 2011 in English and Spanish. The book about his remarkable story was published by SHARP Literacy in conjunction with children in Belize and Milwaukee.