So much has been going on that I sometimes feel like I do not have time to stop and breathe freely. Between helping my friend with her business, working on individual projects for myself and a couple of friends, spending time with Samson before he goes to New Mexico, housework, fighting to VA and dealing with the Army's latest stupidity...I am worn out!
To day we went to the Wild Cat park here in town and it was tons of fun. It was a spur of the moment thing so I did not have my camera with me...this is okay that merely means I get to go back. I remembered back in January, the sound of a lion's roar waking me in the middle of the night. That is not a sound you normally hear in the US countryside...well I got to meet the producer of this roar today. His name is Shaka and he is close to 500 lbs of 12 year of lion. He is absolutely beautiful. They believe Shaka has some lineage with a not extinct species of lion because of his mane. African Lions get big bushy manes that go just past their shoulders...Shaka's is more like the extinct species of lion....his goes all the way back to his hips. Gorgeous animal. Unfortunately they have been unable to breed their lion and lioness because the two animals hate each other. The lioness is extremely aggressive and she stalks the children that come to see her. I mean she runs towards them growling and roaring and jumping at the fence! True predator behavior...she wants badly to grab a small victim of opportunity. Thankfully she is behind a 20+ foot tall chain fencing and a concrete bottom perimeter that is about 3 feet tall under the fencing. So she is not jumping out of there.
Then there was my personal favorite...the tigers. They did not have any siberians but they had three beautiful Bengals. They have a white bengal and he is gorgeous. Not true white like the siberian whites but more of a very pale cream or buff color between his stripes. Then there were the black leopards, lynx, leopards, snow leopards, cougar, cervils and ocelots and african wildcats which look just like the domestic housecat. They are where the domestic cat came from. Cute little guys. The two jaguars were awesome. Two brothers in the same enclosure. They only exist together without killing because they have never been separated. A mere 24 hours apart and they could never be put together again because they would fight to the death. They were very cool to watch. Cheyenne got a kick out of learning about them...she learned that the only two big cats that purr are the panther and the cougar and they are the most shy of the big cats...the roarers such as lions, tigers, jags and leopards are more aggressive and more readily seen. She also learned that leopards are the most difficult to work with and the most dangerous. The owner of the cat park, Craig, is a leopard specialist and we were able to see him walk into the enclosures with some of the cats and play with them. Often during the summer, he takes the tigers swimming in the river here. People have gotten used to seeing him swimming with his tigers and the locals just give them plenty of room and go about their business.
So that is all for the catch up, tomorrow is going over to meet Samson's new owner, go riding and give him treats. We are going to be talking to him about building a custom saddle for him and Samson. That will be a fun and LARGE project. :)
More later!
