Lord of the Kill — Theodore Taylor

A chilling murder in the wild…
When a half-eaten body is found inside a locked jaguar cage, eighteen-year-old Ben Jepson knows it's no prank -- someone is trying to make trouble for the Los Coyotes Big Cat Preserve and its manager, Ben's father. An outspoken conservationist, Dr. Jepson has made some powerful enemies. But which one would dare go to these lengths? And why?

Ben's parents are on a tiger conservation mission deep in the jungle. Now Ben is the only one who can keep Los Coyotes running. But when his beloved tiger Dmitri, nicknamed "Lord of the Kill," is kidnapped, Ben must decide whether to wait for the authorities to handle the case or to strike out on his own.