Hi everybody, this is the first of our monthly news letters telling you more about what is happening at our Predator Sanctuary project and what the animals have been up to.
White tigers: Angelo and Mich
We are in an important stage of negotiations with the owner of our two white Bengal tigers, Angelo and Mich. As you know Angelo is suffering from Progressive Retinal Atrophy and will be totally blind within the next year. For the breeder of tigers he is worthless as a breeding male and his future is extremely uncertain if he was to leave The Predator Sanctuary, one can only guess what will happen to him and the highest probability is that he will end up in the sights of a “trophy hunter`s” rifle. The reality is that he is worth more dead than alive and we have to save him. When keeping in mind that his condition is the result of inbreeding in captivity (human manipulation) and you can see how unfair his situation is. He relies on his best friend Mich for guidance in the enclosure and she also acts as his eyes, so she cannot leave The Predator Sanctuary either. Anyhow she is part of our feline family and such a joyful young girl. We cannot let anything happen to these two beauties and need your support on this asap. We also need to make everybody aware of what is happening in the world of animal traders and how terribly animals are being treated by some of these individuals. Send your e-mails of support to roger@edgeofafrica.com
Ntombi
Ntombi has been suffering from dizzy spells since August, and we took her for an MRI scan on Wednesday 15th September at the George Medi Clinic. She caused quite a stir on her arrival and the Scribante rooms were the favourite place for hospital staff to gather and monitor the distinguished patient. The diagnosis was that there was severe pressure by the brain on the brainstem and that this condition was the result of a Vitamin A deficiency, caused by.........you guessed right, inbreeding and poor food quality of food for the parents!! We are now treating her with Vitamin A injections daily, not an easy task if taken into consideration that lions dislike injections severely. Basically for every injection I give her she gives me a slap or a bite, fair trade you might think but believe me each slap contains five razor sharp claws. Thus for every injection I give I receive five back, not fair at all. But then again neither Ntombi or myself excel at maths but we do have an agreement that I have one chance to give her the injection and if I miss or hesitate, it is open season for her. Luckily she is recovering very well and playing with her doggy friends again. Pray for her full recovery.
Grompie and Kara
Grompie gave me and Karen the run around in his enclosure the other day. He gave me a loving pinch on the arm and I reacted by tapping him on the nose with my hand- wrong move!!!!! Grompie does not react kindly to being reprimanded and he very clearly stated this by giving me the “stink eye” making sure we got the message to leave his enclosure asap. After all it was only a lion “love bite” and I was supposed to have thanked him, not reprimand him. Well it took me two and a half days of begging and bribing with fresh chicken and milky`s, being growled at while he was chomping down the chicken and slurping up the milk, before he forgave me on day three. Unfortunately I have set a standard of bribing now, and he expects this royal treatment to continue indefinitely- costly!!!! I just hope that we can negotiate this “love bite” thing again in the future, it is quite painful, no matter how lovingly intended by the big man.
The rest
Everyone else is doing fine, with Juka being more in love with Shanti than ever before. Tsau! (white lion male) also recently decided that if we do not visit him first in the morning he does not want us in his enclosure for the rest of the day, this complicates our enclosure cleaning a lot, because Juka and Grompie expect the same treatment. Talk of the day between the animals is the refusal of the wild dogs to accept that the Siberian tigers have moved into their old enclosure (despite the fact that the wild dogs have a brand new, bigger enclosure next to their old one). Mona Lisa (female wild dog) keeps yelling and screaming atrocities at the two Siberians, Tara and Lali. The Siberians just enjoy their new enclosure not paying any attention to the “bitching” of Mona Lisa and this obviously drives the little painted dog crazyyyyyy!!!!!
Otherwise we are in full preparation for the coming December holiday. We are planning a lot of interesting activities to entertain our visitors and do make sure to visit us when on holiday in the beautiful Mossel Bay during the festive season.
Lots of “ROARSSS, CHIRPS AND PURRSSS!!!” from all of us on the east coast of South Africa
No comments:
Post a Comment