For journalists.
Facts with sources, downloadable media, and who to talk to. We’re a community, not a company. The sanctuary is the primary source and will talk to you directly.
01 / Fact sheet
Six things, all sourced.
- The animal
- Tigrino, male, ~10 years, ~1.4 kg (3 lb), Leopardus tilcayo. Holotype. The only confirmed living individual of the species. Taken from the wild as a kitten and kept as a pet for ~1 year; at La Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary, Yungas, Bolivia, since 2017, non-releasable. Sanctuary asks that the story not be used to romanticize keeping wild cats as pets.
- The roles
- La Senda Verde rescued Tigrino and has cared for him for almost ten years. Biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz (Programa de Investigación de Félidos Bolivia) and an international team provided the science identifying the species. Distinct and equally important; please credit both.
- The species
- Leopardus tilcayo, described 17 Sep 2026 in Current Biology (Lescroart, Nogales-Ascarrunz et al.). First new living cat species since the pampas cat, 1923. Diverged from other tiger cats ~1.4 million years ago.
- The token
- $TIGRINO, Solana, launched on pump.fun 18 Sep 2026 09:06 UTC. Creator fee split locked at 100% to La Senda Verde Animal Refuge Inc / 0% creator. Creator holds 0 tokens. Community-run.
- The money
- $131,159 (1404 SOL) across 122 settled donations to La Senda Verde Animal Refuge Inc (US 501(c)(3), EIN 47-2415812), as of Tue, 03 Nov 2026 17:17:54 GMT. Live, unaudited; source donate.gg.
- The sanctuary
- La Senda Verde, founded 2003 by Vicky Ossio and Marcelo Levy, near Coroico, Bolivia. 1,000+ animals rescued from trafficking. sendaverde.org · info@sendaverde.org. Has agreed to speak to press (EN/ES).
- Confirmation
- Sanctuary confirmed receipt on X (18 Sep), posted a photo of Tigrino with a printed thank-you (19 Sep), and a 3-minute video of co-founder Marcelo Levy with Tigrino (19 Sep). Links below.
02 / Media
Downloadable. Credit La Senda Verde for anything showing the real cat.
Marcelo Levy with Tigrino and a printed thank-you sign
Photo · La Senda Verde · 19 Sep 2026
Download ↓
Tigrino in a tree at the sanctuary
Photo · La Senda Verde
Download ↓
Tigrino in his enclosure · 9 s · 1280×720
Video · La Senda Verde · 18 Sep 2026
Download ↓
Vertical 15 s cut with captions, for social
Video · community edit of sanctuary footage
Download ↓
Token logo: download · community artwork: meme wall. National Geographic’s photos (Joel Sartore, Fernando Faciole) are not hosted here; license them from NatGeo.
03 / On the record
Quotes from the sanctuary.
“We saw the cryptocurrency created for Tigrino and received a large amount of donations thanks to it. We really appreciate all the support shown. It’s important that Tigrino has a good life, and this is helping our sanctuary a lot.”
“Tigrino wanted to say thank you himself. In just 48 hours, the @Pumpfun and @donatedotgg communities raised over $100,000 for our sanctuary. For a small wildlife rescue in Yungas, this is life-changing. It will help us care for Tigrino and more than 1,000 rescued animals. We never expected this.”
“Tilcayo is the name local people use for the species. Tigrino is the individual currently in Senda Verde’s care.”
“Marcelo, co-founder of Senda Verde, would like you to meet Tigrino in his enclosure. Thank you to @Pumpfun, @donatedotgg, and the entire community.”
04 / Verify
Primary sources.
National Geographic · Reuters · The New York Times · BBC · NBC News · ABC News · Nature is Amazing · 6.3M · The Figen · 2.8M · X Trending · “Tigrino Confirmed as New Wild Cat Species”
Technical details for fact-checkers
Token: 91ryaCo5yGpYZM3bs6GUPs97VWJQj7RozBmqPULgpump
Fee wallet: AjygC8gewVhtDD36BLjbMaDUPC2VSMsa3gHrXdYYh36M
Charity: La Senda Verde Animal Refuge Inc · EIN 47-2415812 · donate.gg id 53d830d3-c8f8-5827-9d46-1740840a0ee6
Fee routing is enforced by pump.fun’s charity configuration (creator royalty 0 bps, locked). Settlement by donate.gg. Full ledger as CSV on request. We don’t hold, control, or receive any of the funds.