The Cheetah cam is rockin' this morning

[demnan]

Even momma is playing!

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AfricanSavanna/default.cfm?cam=C1

[Eurobabe]

1. this breaks my heart, why aren't these majestic animals

out on a savannah somewhere? I know we need these programs to breed endangered cats, but I sure wish we weren't such assholes that we pushed them to near extinction in the first place. :cry:

[demnan]

2. They have a larger area

where the cheetahs will go when they are a bit older. They won't be so confined forever.

[Eurobabe]

3. Oh I know, but it is so beautiful to see them

in the wild. (I never have, nature shows & zoos about the closest I've ever been to a Cheetah)

Of course I have a little red cat at home who thinks he's a Cheetah....

[Princess Turandot]

4. Tigers in the Bronx...

from the Asian Animal habitat in the Bronx Zoo.
The animals are viewed from a monorail which rides along its perimeter.

Somewhat better than this full grown tiger, who was living in a NYC housing project.



(If you didn't hear abt this story from last year, the cop in the photo is an emergency service officer who after much discussion between local animal experts & the police,was lowered by harness to shoot the tiger with a tranquilizing dart. The tiger objected to the first injection. The cop said he had never been as scared in his life as he was when it charged the window. He was able to get another dart in it, it fell asleep, and they removed it. He was in surprisingly good health, and is now somewhere in Ohio. In addition to the nut who raised him, he also lived with a caiman.)

[Lorien]

5. I certainly agree with you on the extinction part

but I've met some big cats that seem to be thriving in captivity. There's a place in Tampa called Big Cat Rescue ( www.bigcatrescue.org ) that cares for over 250 wild cats who came from zoos, circuses, private homes, customs and fur farms. They do a wonderful job; the animals are healthy and playful. They have large natural outdoor enclosures, and are rotated to new enclosures regularly so they don't get bored. Big Cat Rescue offers day long "Safaris" to very small groups-usually 2-6 people. You get go inside the cages with the smaller cats (lynx, bobcat, caracal, servals) to interact with them, and you do enrichment and operant conditioning with the bigger cats (tigers, lions ,leopards, etc.) Both you and the cats have a great time! I played with a snow leopard named Hercules for about a half our one afternoon. I would hide behind a tree outside his enclosure, and he would hide behind a rock or tree inside his enclosure-then I would dash out from my hiding spot and run the length of his pen, and he'd tear after me. It was funny to see him peering over that rock with the same goofy expression that Oberon gets when he's playing (of course, Hercules probably would have eaten me if it weren't for the enclosure-but we had a great time nevertheless). ;-)

Here's a photo of me and my mom at Big Cat Rescue. We're teaching the tiger Muffy how to lay down when asked. The large, fat tiger is Sher Khan, a Siberian/bengal mix. He's a real sweetie; he chuffs and rubs whenever you talk to him. :-)

[kslib]

7. I just check this out!

I really would love to go!!! My aunt says the same thing. So, is it all that it promises? Is it worth the drive and such if we stayed in the cabin? Wow, this looks amazing!! Thanks for sharing!

[Lorien]

8. VERY worth it!

I took my mom for her birthday two years ago. The other couple on our tour were newlyweds-and that was their honeymoon! They were in heaven-the only thing the wife didn't like was the dead chicks used in the enrichment (you can call ahead and say "please no dead chicks!", and get chopped meat instead). We used the meat and chicks together with spices and peacock feathers and made enrichment bundles that we tossed or hid in the cages. The cats would "hunt" for them, then just go crazy playing with them until they finally settled down to eat the contents.

I also stayed in one of the cabins with a friend a few years earlier; our "hostess" was Raindance the bobcat-she was such a sweetie! She did trick me in the morning and managed to escape her cage, but I went into her cage and played with her toys until she couldn't stand it and came back to play with me (all cats are the same, lol!) I took several hundred photographs. You can also do the photo safari, where you can take "cage free" natural looking photos of the cats with help of their handlers-the cats love it, plus all the money goes to their care.

I see that you're in Kansas; if you wanted to fly, I live in Orlando (an hour or less from Big Cat Rescue), and you and your Aunt would be welcome to stay here if you chose to fly in and out of my city (tickets are usually pretty cheap to Orlando because it's a huge hub for many airlines). PM me if you're interested.

:hi:

[Beaverhausen]

6. kick- rockin today- the first public showing of the cubs