A little while ago I took a trip
to the Wildlife Heritage Foundation based in Kent. This charitable organisation
has been running The Big Cat Sanctuary since 2000, their mission is to protect
big cat species around the world from extinction through their successful
breeding programmes.
Part of the way they raise funds
for their projects is hosting photography days, where you can get up close (but
not too close) with the various species and get a few snaps.
Your not allowed in the cages with
them of course, but you can get right up to the fence to get the shots,
assuming that is the residents of that particular enclosure are not being too
cantankerous. If they aren’t in the mood for a close-up, a quick snarl and the
flash of canines soon has everyone stepping back fairly briskly.
Our first visit was to the cheetah
enclosure, these inquisitive animals were quite comfortable with us being there
and it wasn’t long before they wandered over, in that nonchalant way of theirs,
to see just what we were up to. In fact cheetahs are quite easily domesticated,
the ancient Egyptians and Romans used them to hunt, hence the name ‘hunting
leopard’, although they are most closely related to the puma and jaguarondi.
While they are not a true ‘big’ cat, as they cannot roar,
instead issuing mews, hissing, chirrups and yowls, they are one of the oldest extant
cat species, still closely resembling their forebears from 200,000 years ago.
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This one was getting quite bored with our company and obviously couldn't
stifle that yawn. |
