Feline Conservation Federation January/February 2012 • Volume 56, Issue 1 T a B L E O F

Feline Conservation Federation January/February 2012 • Volume 56, Issue 1 T A B L E O F

Features contents JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 | VOLUME 56, ISSUE 1 FCF Convention 2012 is Coming 8 Cincinnati Zoo sets the stage for plenty of cats at Convention.

9 Under Attack but Still Fighting Back Bobbi Corona explains the court ruling on BCR’s crusade against G.W. Exotics.

A Visit to Eden on Earth: Mala Mala Reserve 18 Lynn Culver says, “Put this trip on your bucket list.” 24 Rare Species Fund Hollywood movies and commercials 18 help fund habitat protection.

Laohu Valley Report 26 Tiger enthusiast Patty Perry visits this incredible rewilding project.

Three Updates from Save China’s Tigers 27 Li Quan on the death of 327, the 3rd generation breeding, and Madonna’s miracle cubs.

Unnecessary Love 31 Bart Culver tells us how the beauty of our truth can outshine their simplistic lies.

Mala Mala 2011 in Review 33 Tawny Antle recounts that Mala Mala exceeded her expectations.

Cover Photo: Please see details about this handsome leopard on our back cover. 42

10 31 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE FCF JOURNAL AND JOINTHE FCF IN ITS CONSERVATION EFFORTS A membership to the FCF entitles you to six issues of the Journal, the back-issue DVD, an invitation to FCF husbandry and wildlife education courses and annual convention, and participation in our online discussion group. The FCF works to improve captive feline husbandry and ensure that habitat is available. The FCF supports the conservation of exotic felines through captive and wild habitat protection, and it provides support for captive husbandry, breeding programs, and public education. Contact Us 38 “We Bought a Zoo: A True Zoo Story” The new movie intrigued Fred FOUNDER: Treasurer: DEPARTMENTS: Hood. Catherine Cisin Marilin Antle Accreditation Chairman: P.O. Box 31210 Doc Antle Myrtle Beach, SC 29588 P.O. Box 31210 44 Remembering Shirley Wagner EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: 843-283-2826 Myrtle Beach, SC 29588 Danny Treanor recalls one of Lynn Culver treasurer@ 843-271-2299 LIOC’s original feline advocates. 141 Polk 664 felineconservation.org [email protected] Mena, AR 71953 479-394-5235 Conservation Advisor: executivedirector@ DIRECTORS: Jim Sanderson, Ph.D. felineconservation.org Conservation: 356 Freeman Street Husbandry Pat Callahan Hartford, CT 06106 OFFICERS: 3400 Vine Street 505-720-1204 President: Cincinnati, OH 45220 [email protected] 7 Building on a Budget Kevin Chambers 513-304-7155 Sheri DeFlorio shows creative 7816 N CR 75 W conservation@ Shelburn, IN 47879 felineconservation.org ways to fashion a cat palace. 812-397-2302 JOURNAL STAFF: president@ Legislation: Managing Editor: felineconservation.org Robert Johnson Lynn Culver 10 The Situation with Serval Stones PO Box 31210 Dolly Guck’s successful treat- Vice President: Myrtle Beach, SC 29588 Layout/Copy Editor: ment of Sawabu. Patty Perry 786-390-8553 Eden Tran P.O. Box 2359 legislation@ sonandedentran@ Moorpark, CA 93020 felineconservation.org yahoo.com 16 A Swinging Enrichment Idea 805-517-1005 Serval hammock design by Dolly vicepresident@ Teresa Shaffer Associate Editors: Guck. felineconservation.org 12811 Outerbelt Road Judith Hoffman Lone Jack, MO 64070 Deeanna Croasmun Secretary: 816-739-3999 Yvonne Veety 36 Build a Better Birthing Box George DeLong [email protected] Teresa Shaffer on turning a dog- 197 East View Road Advertising: house into a climate-controlled Highlands, NC 28741 Kurt Beckelman 828-526-4553 birthing house. secretary@ felineconservation.org Species

8 Cincinnati Cougars on the Prowl Organization The Feline Conservation Federation publishes the Journal bimonth- Shawnee Indian Fred Shaw takes ly. The FCF is non-profit, (Federal ID#59-2048618) non-commercial, us on a journey to our souls. Letter from the President: and international in membership, devoted to the welfare and conserva- 4 tion of exotic felines. Time to get professional. The Journal publishes articles on exotic feline conservation and Kevin Chambers 42 Blast From the Past: Tuffy the husbandry, management, and regulatory and legislative issues affecting Margay ownership for our members. The author’s point of view does not neces- Danny Treanor’s memorial to a 6 From the Executive sarily represent the point of view of the organization. Reproduction of grand old girl. Director: Legislation sea- any material in the Journal may not be made without the written person is upon us and we have mission of the original copyright owners and/or copyright owner FCF. work to do. Lynn Culver Letters to the editor and guest editorials are also published. Pictorials Display advertisement space is available at the following prices: $10 business card, $25.00 quarter page, $50.00 half page, and $100 Donations 6 full-page ad. Submission deadline for articles and Your Best Shots Registered Handlers 40 Photos by Blue, Julie Reid, 15 advertisements is the 10th of even num- Nancy Vandermey, Deanna bered months. Please submit all photos Croasmun, Yvonne Veety, Alexey 45 Fourth Quarter Board of and articles to the Journal Managing Sharf, Eden Tran, Christopher Directors Meeting Report Editor. High Resolution photos and Ferguson, Jessica Willoughby. articles may be emailed to [email protected], or send by postal service to 141 Polk 664, Mena, AR 71953.

3 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Letter from the President The 2012 legislative session is off to a care and facility management, and who Committee, consisting of Ron Young, speedy start. As I write this, eight states conducts their husbandry, business, and Karl Mogenson, Baghavan Antle, Bill have already had ten bills introduced, and public image in an ethical manner. Pro- Meadows, and Pat Callahan. They will there are more to come. We are all going fessional members will normally hold a confirm that you do indeed fit the criteria to be kept quite busy for the next few USDA license to engage in the breeding, as a professional, so you can be elevated months dealing with preserving our rights. brokering, sales, or exhibition of wild to the Professional level. The $15 fee is One of the things that the FCF has recent- felines, or they may be employed or hold good for one or both persons on a mem- ly done will help us in these battles… the substantial, but unpaid, positions at bership, but both will need to fill out an creation of the Professional Level of USDA-licensed or non-profit wild feline application. When it comes time to membership. Legislators’ main concern facilities. Professional membership may renew, dues are an additional $25 per year with our felids is the perception that they also be granted to those running non-prof- higher than that of a general member. are dangerous to the public, and that wild- its, substantial financial supporters, To qualify for Professional Member- cat owners are untrained, unregulated, and wildlife educators, veterinarians, ship, you must be an FCF Registered Han- uncaring. That is why most states give researchers, and conservationists. Profes- dler, register your cats with the FCF exemptions to AZA facilities and several sional members must support the goals Feline Census (if you possess wild to ZAA. Anti-private ownership organi- and mission of the Feline Conservation felines), sign the “Professional Code of zations, such the Global Federation of Federation, which is to protect the rights Conduct,” and fill out the Professional Sanctuaries, are pushing for exemptions of qualified individuals to own and to pur- Member application on the website. as well. The common thread between all sue captive husbandry of wild felines, and of these organizations is that they profess to preserve, protect, and propagate wild Kevin Chambers to be organizations of self-regulating feline populations in captivity and in peers. We now have our accreditation nature. In the Nov/Dec 2011 Journal, the Best program and the Professional Member sta- By the time this issue arrives, the online Shots photo collage incorrectly identi- tus to put us right there, too. While we Professional Member application should fied a lounging clouded leopard. The would rather see good legislation, if the be up and running in the members-only feline is actually Matti, a 19 year old final draw is between a ban or an exemp- section of our website, www.felineconser- female living at Panther Ridge Conser- tion, we must go for the exemption. vation.org. Once you have filled out the vation Center. Matti is a particular A “Professional” member of the FCF is application and paid the $15 processing favorite of photographer Sandra Sickler. someone who is substantially involved in fee, your application will be reviewed by Please accept our apologies. the captive husbandry of wild felines, the Professional operates with high standards of animal Membership Donations

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4 5 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 From the Executive Director By Lynn Culver the HSUS. The HSUS agenda is to force By the time you read this Journal, there the extinction of all animals in captivity, will be several more Action Alerts com- It is a good thing I spent two weeks in and these animal rights fanatics do not posed and ready to send, that apply to Africa last November, because facing this accept that our felines are anything but every state, because we know this HSUS horrible 2012 legislative onslaught “dangerous animals” that should never be ban bill is being shopped everywhere. requires one to be refreshed, invigorated, privately owned. Their single-minded HSUS has a list of HSUS-friendly legisla- and ready to do battle. That I am, thanks agenda refuses to acknowledge that our tors (i.e. people who have taken HSUS to the Rare Species Fund, which hosted a felines can be happy and serve a purpose, money and owe them favors) and these group of 26 wildlife enthusiasts at the or that captive feline owners are capable legislators will be introducing this HSUS world-renowned South African safari of providing proper care. The HSUS bill bill, or a slightly modified version, into camp, Mala Mala. My trip did not end being proposed restricts ownership and their state under the guise of public safety, there; I also visited Li Quan and spent an breeding rights to the exclusive club of concerned that a Zanesville massacre can incredible afternoon at the Laohu Valley zoos who can afford to be members of the happen in their state. And just because Reserve, where the South China Tiger AZA organization, and to a small faction you have a good set of regulations in your Rewilding Project is conducted. I also of sanctuaries that sign onto the HSUS state, is no reason to feel secure. As the flew to Cape Town, to see Cheetah Out- extinction movement, agreeing to ware- recent Virginia bill illustrates, this is not reach, where offspring from the DeWildt house wildlife, never breed anything, and about pet ownership, it’s about private cheetah breeding center are exercised and never use wildlife ambassadors for educa- ownership, the existence of non-AZA socialized in preparation for export to tion or outreach, or (Heaven forbid) allow gene pools, and the HSUS mission to zoos, educators, and breeding centers any public contact with animals. force the extinction of every one of our around the world. So far, Indiana has introduced a version cats. Because we know it is coming, While the wonderful images of wildlife of this HSUS bill, as have Virginia and everyone needs to send out a proactive let- will stay with me for life, another, more Oklahoma. By the time this Journal goes ter to their legislators now, explaining disturbing, image is also permanently to press, Ohio will have their bill intro- what is happening nationwide, and how burned into my conscience. While driving duced and it is sure to be an HSUS ban harmful it will be – to feline conservation, from the airport in Cape Town, we passed bill as well. to them personally, and to businesses, and a shantytown populated with seven mil- In Virginia, there are several fine pri- exhibitors, and breeders in the state, and lion people. The rickety, densely crowded vately owned and operated zoo parks, ask that they not sponsor such a bill. slum ran for miles on one side of the high- nature centers, and outreach educators, all The FCF has purchased enhanced dis- way, while the other side held modern of which are licensed and inspected by the tribution press releases through PRWeb shopping malls and fine homes surround- USDA. The Virginia Department of that are sent to print media and newspa- ed with razor wire. It puts everything into Wildlife wrote all stakeholders and USDA pers all over America. The FCF will be perspective. The lush and abundant inspectors to let them know that several issuing press releases bi-monthly on this wildlife at Mala Mala only exists because organizations are contacting legislators legislative season in an attempt to educate of the constant influx of tourist dollars and their agency in light of the situation in the public, legislators, and media, and to that makes nature pay and, therefore, be Ohio, offering “help” in updating Virginia counter the AR propaganda. worth protecting. But can nature ever be regulations, and by drafting code changes. The FCF produced the informative and secure when there are literally millions Clearly, the draft presented is a HSUS professionally produced video, “The and millions of poverty-stricken people wish list, a “manage to extinction” and InCATvenient Truth.” FCF members living in shantytowns in cities all across “better dead than bred” proposal. It is underutilize this important learning tool. Africa? People always come first, and the totally outrageous that states are being Please contact me to purchase bulk quali- needs of so many humans demand that asked to pass laws that will result in the ties, spend a day at your state capital, natural resources be exploited without extinction in captivity of species that are meet with the legislators, and pass out mercy. And the basic needs of millions of threatened and endangered in nature. We copies. Do it today, before it is too late. Africans that are not being met is a ticking cannot let this happen. Nature is under I am on the phone, I am writing letters, population time bomb that will explode incredible attack and captivity must press releases, and action alerts, I am on someday. And this trip has convinced me, remain their safe haven; and our genetic the job; but it will take the involvement of more than ever, of the pressing need for us banks of felines managed separately from every FCF member to win this battle to safeguard our captive gene pools of the tiny AZA population must be protect- against the extinction movement. We wild felines in America. ed. We must be nature’s army and do bat- must win the hearts and minds of the I believe that 2012 will be a legislative tle with the evil forces that wish to sever American people and our elected officials. year that breaks all records. The human connection with animals. We are no match for the corrupting influ- Zanesville, Ohio, big cat massacre is The FCF has bought into CAPWIZ and ence of the millions of dollars HSUS can being exploited by the Humane Society of is using this grassroots email software to spend to buy legislation, but we do have the United States to get their foot into the issue Action Alerts to our members and the truth on our side and we must use it to doors of every legislature, in every state in the feline community. When you see one protect the lives, and the future, of our session this year. Captive wildlife is not of our alerts, post it to your Facebook, for- beloved wild feline friends. They have safe anywhere. Even in states that have ward the link to your friends, and use it to given us so much and we owe them a debt strict regulations, it is not good enough for send out letters against these ban laws. of gratitude.

6 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Building on a Budget

By Sheri DeFlorio

Building an enclosure that makes our felines happy and enriched is something that may be financially difficult during these trying times. Working 40 to 55 hours per week and finding the time to build a “cat palace” was a challenge within itself, especially with a budget of just six hundred dollars. With the help of our local electric company, Craigslist, and some old building materials lying around, we finally completed our Geoffroy’s cat enclosure in seven weekends. Treated wood and wire alone would break our budget, so we tried to use as many “free” resources as we could get our hands on. The telephone poles (green-treated, as the old creosote ones are harmful) were free, conventional doors that came off a house were free, and, of course, the back- breaking labor from myself and my husband were also free. The only materials Dahruma gets to enjoy his new, extravagant enclosure on a bright win- that came out of the budget included pres- ter day, equipped with hiding spots, shelter, perches, and a tunnel to sure-treated lumber for the structure, 12.5- explore. gauge wire that surrounds the cage, fence look like a grain silo. With that in mind, a 35-gallon pond form and a rock water- staples, and some enrichment items for we started cutting and placing 18-foot fall with pump to add some more kitty the interior. Our goal was to make the telephone poles into the ground (by hand) bliss for our very much-loved Dahruma. enclosure as tall as possible, since Geof- in a circle. The next step from there was With so much height in the enclosure froy’s cats love high places. My husband forming the structure with 2’x4’x12’ treat- there was more than enough room to add came up with a plan to make the enclosure ed lumber, including the roof, which was ramps, shelves, and cathouses for him to not an easy task since it had to be done enjoy up high where he craves to be. on angles and so high up from the Overall we are very pleased with the ground. turnout of this project. King Dahruma When the structure was complete, we was introduced to his new palace on then worked on the double door entry Thanksgiving Day and has already and framed that in as well. We used two enjoyed swimming in the pond and cat old doors, knocked out the glass panes, napping on his tree-high perches. and replaced the openings with 2’x2’ wire and screen. After everything was assembled, the structure was then covered and stretched with 12.5-gauge wire. We had to focus on preventing any escapes, so we took more telephone poles, cut them, and placed them around the base into a trench on the ground, then secured them with the structural wire. Using plastic drum barrels, old tin from a roof, and barn wood, we added enrichment to the interior of the cage. Our neighbor used his tractor and brought us a huge, old Including these doors, recycled from a These multiple perches will give oak tree stump, which we also placed inside. With help from house, helped to lower the cost of build- Dahruma a bird’s-eye view of the sur- ing this enclosure significantly. rounding area over which he reigns. Craigslist, we were able to purchase

7 FCF Convention 2012 is Coming! Meet us in Cincinnati, Ohio, Thursday, June 7th through Saturday, June 9th, for Cats, Cats, & more Cats!

And don’t miss out on the Basic Wild/Exotic Feline Husbandry or Wildlife Conservation Educators Courses, presented on Wednesday, June 6th

This summer, Cincinnati Zoo invites the FCF to see all 16 of their feline species, as well as a very special Cat Ambassador Program starring cheetahs, servals, fishing cats, and Cathryn Hilker! *** Besides being the second oldest zoo in the country, CZBG houses over 500 animals & 3,000 plant species, has been a successful captive breeding facility since the 1880s, & is rated one of the best zoological parks in the nation! *** So please join us for great speakers, great friends, & tons of fun felines... For hotel and registration information, look for the enclosed Convention form or register on the FCF website and pay with PayPal.

www.felineconservation.org Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Cincinnati Cougars on the Prowl By Fred Shaw

Fred has worked closely with the Cat Ambassador Program at the Cincinnati Zoo, photograph- ing and writing a book entitled Brothers of the Wind in 2006, the proceeds of which benefit the Angel Fund for cheetah conservation. A second cheetah story, The Running Wind, has been made into a short film by Ancient Voices Productions that debuted at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. One of several unobtrusively place signs lists different words and names that have been used to Welcome to your experience describe Puma concolor. Photo by Eden Tran. of the cougars of the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. sary place in a cir- beating hearts be lost." The heartbeat of a Shawnee The cougar brothers’ enclo- cle whose balance Suddenly, Tecumseh and Joseph bound Indian drum draws you down sure allows them to feel at connects all into the clearing, nimbly leaping up the the path beside "The Night home in their own domain. things in life. rocks and over the stream. Finally they Hunters" to a clearing in the When that bal- come to the glass of their habitat and plant woods. The tracks of Walks-in- ance was broken, life became survival." their front paws upon it as they look into the-Shadows cross the way before you. "These two cougars of the Cincinnati your eyes. Your heart skips, and you Petroglyphs on the rocks lining the trail Zoo are named for the gifted leaders know that human beings are not the center reveal that others have been here long Tecumseh and Joseph. Though from dif- of the universe. before you. Signs bearing the many ferent nations and separated by 100 years Illustrations and story summaries of the names by which the mountain lion is and hundreds of miles, they both dreamed Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, and the Nez known catch your attention. of recreating this balance for their people. Perce strategist, Joseph, invite you to con- A full, male voice blends with the These great cats are an invitation to you to sider the interconnectedness of humans, drumbeat and welcomes you; "The place restore the beauty of balance lest it be lost animal people, the plant nations, and the where you now stand was named Ohio for forever. Watch the grace of their move- earth itself. You turn to leave, changed in its beauty by its early residents. There ments. Look at their faces. Dare to look a way that is difficult to express. You was a time when the hawks and the other into their eyes. Experience their power in have looked into the eyes of the wild and winged-ones, the four-leggeds, and the this circle that you complete with them. discovered yourself. two-leggeds lived in balance. Each one’s Listen as their hearts speak to your heart. beating heart was in harmony with earth, Do not let the water, fire, and wind. Each held a neces- song of their

Cincinnati Zoo has included a man-made stream and Tecumseh and Joseph are frequently seen nap- waterfall to give the resident cougars more variety and ping the day away together. Photo by Eden Tran. enrichment in their natural-looking habitat.

9 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Under Attack But Still Fighting Back! By Bobbi Corona harassment crusade. Schreibvogel and Baskin. At the January Carole started out breeding exotic cats 12th injunction hearing, the judge ruled On January 12, 2012, Joe Schreibvogel, for sale, so her hypocrisy is particularly that Baskin and her supporters could con- park director of G.W. Exotic Animal Park, inexcusable. Carole knows that kittens tinue on their tirade under the First walked into a federal courtroom in hopes removed from their mother for hand-rais- Amendment. They are free to sling their of stopping Carole Baskin, CEO and ing, and socialized with humans, even slanderous opinions, and to harass and Founder of Big Cat Rescue, from continu- used in public venues where people who interfere with Shreibvogel’s business con- ing her crusade to ruin his facility, as well would otherwise never have the opportu- tracts. But in the upcoming jury trial to as many other animal exhibitors, by nity to see these amazing creatures, is not decide whether Carole is guilty of harassing them out of business. Carole animal abuse. defamation of character and tortuous was not present at the injunction hearing; Joe believes felines destined to live out interference with business contracts, Car- in her place were her latest husband, their life in our world, benefit from human ole could be held responsible for the dam- Howard Baskin and two United States touch. Joe’s experiences have also taught ages caused by not by just her opinions, Humane Society (HSUS) executives. him that public contact with the young of but by her lies. Her harassments state his Joe, known as “Joe Exotic” in the ani- wild felines can be a source of love and tiger cubs grow up to be sold into a miser- mal industry, runs a 501c3 nonprofit zoo nurturing to these innocent creatures. able existence, and then are shot in canned in Wynnewood, OK. Joe also has tigers There is only a short period of time, hunts, or parted out into the illegal Asian that he selectively breeds. according to USDA regulations, when tiger parts industry. Now what mall Carole Baskin runs Big Cat Rescue in cubs and kittens are old enough, vaccinat- owner would want to be guilty of support- Tampa, Florida, a self-proclaimed big cat ed enough, and safe enough, for profes- ing that? Carole has crossed the line of sanctuary that she started with her person- sional exhibitors to allow people the opinions, and entered the realm of lies, al collection of exotic cats, but lately she opportunity to have physical contact. And and it may cost her dearly. The judge has has been “born again” as an animal rights Joe has seen the power of this connection, asked Schreibvogel and his attorney to crusader, determined to end all captive has seen it bring tears of joy, and respect amend their claim for financial damages, breeding, and especially tiger breeding. for these truly magnificent animals, that to include those contracts he has lost since Carole believes society should let these will last a lifetime. first filing a multi-million dollar lawsuit endangered species die out in captivity. Carole believes the opposite. Even against Baskin and Big Cat Rescue, which She ignores all of the dire warnings of though most of Carole’s cats were hand- the judge has set at $9 million. biologists, conservationists, and raised with a human touch, Carole is Animal rights propaganda has now researchers predicting the cat species we determined to break that bond. evolved from the decades-old, but never all love and care about could become Which is fair to the animals? Creating found, mythological “Texas canned hunts” extinct in nature in the next 10-15 years. a human bond between man and animal, to the latest in fear-mongering and truth- The fight between Baskin and Schreib- and sharing that experience with the stretching, the unprovable and unstop- vogel reads like David vs. Goliath. world, like Joe does, or, collecting up pable, illegal Asian “tiger body parts” Baskin has a personal vendetta against felines and putting them in solitary con- scare. Schreibvogel’s business, and harasses his finement even though they have commit- For now, Joe Exotic continues to care clients and sponsors relentlessly, all ted no crime, milking them like cash cows for his animals and his baby tigers, at a because he breeds and exhibits baby tigers to glean sympathy donations from com- small zoo in rural Oklahoma. Carole for the world to see. passionate animal lovers, and spouting Baskin, in partnership with HSUS, pur- Joe has poured his life savings into the propaganda and lies about how touching chases property to build a so-called true care and exhibition of rescued and animals is animal abuse, like Carole does? “sanctuary” in North Carolina, complete rehomed animals at his rural Oklahoma Carole spends a lot of time on the Inter- with a public museum of stuffed exotic zoological park. net chastising Schreibvogel and every cats that have died under her “care.” Any Carole spends the millions of dollars other licensed commercial exhibitor, while cats moved to this sanctuary in North Car- she inherited after the mysterious disap- falsely claiming she runs a sanctuary, con- olina will not be on exhibit to the public pearance of her first husband, Don Lewis, veniently forgetting that by her own defin- and, therefore, will not be protected by the now presumed dead, and Carole operates ition, a true “sanctuary” is not open to the Animal Welfare Act regulations and a very commercial, “feline roadside zoo” public, and does not exhibit its animals. USDA inspectors, and, could also be in Tampa, where she aggressively adver- We in the animal industry have a duty exempt from all state protection and over- tises her “must see” collection of cats to to the feline species to ensure they are sight, if HSUS gets its exemptions passed the tourists. She also pretends she is an preserved and loved for generations to in their proposed North Carolina ban bills. authority on big cats. come. And we owe it to the animals to Carole will be able to safely hide, along Carole has misled her uneducated ani- stop people like Carole Baskin from with all the skeletons in the closet, just mal loving followers, until they blindly destroying the “Davids” of the animal like API was able to do with their Primate believe that breeding, public contact, or industry with her GOLIATH tactics and Sanctuary, before primates, dead from exhibiting by anyone other than BCR is bullying. starvation, neglect, and abuse, were dis- exploitation. She regularly calls upon For now, it is up to a federal judge to covered rotting in puddles of water in its these brainwashed fanatics to join in her decide who wins the war between so called “sanctuary.”

10 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012

11 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 The Situation with Serval Stones

By Dolly Guck the wild to get a mouse or rabbit hiding and I asked if she could get some urine down a hole. Everybody claps and from him. She brought out a bowl and It all started about a year and a half ago. Sawabu is very proud of himself. I can squeezed his bladder causing urine to flow I brought my serval, Sawabu, to the vet see it on his face. But, then it happened, into the bowl. Oh my, there was blood in for his annual check up and shots. Dr. he peed on the table! “Oh my”, I thought, the urine. We could see it against the Leigh Semilof suggested that next year “That has never happened before.” On white bowl. she would like to put him under anesthesia the way home I told my husband Dan my The vet technician took the urine to test and do a real good hands-on exam and concerns about it and said, "I am calling it and found blood, infection, and crystals draw some blood. She explained it would the vet as soon as we get home." I know in the urine. Dr. Semilof explained that be a good idea since he was eight years when a cat pees in a different place like on there are two kinds of crystals that cats old now, and if anything was going your clothes, a corner, or on a table in this get. Struvite crystals are composed of wrong, she could catch it early. I agreed, case, they are trying to get your attention magnesium, ammonium and phosphate. though I did agonize all year about putting and tell you something is wrong. Well, he They can be dissolved with diet. The him under. Usually, all I do when we go got my attention. I called the vet the next other kind is calcium oxalate. They can- to the vet is feed him a piece of chicken day and scheduled an exam. not be dissolved with diet. The cat must breast while she vaccinates him. Then he On the morning of June 6, 2011, I did pass them, or you must operate to take hisses at her so she can see how well his not feed Sawabu or give him any water. them out. To determine which kind teeth are doing, and we are done. If that As I was feeding everyone else he was Sawabu had, Dr. Semilof needed to send does not work, I scruff him, throw a towel begging. "No, not right now, you can some urine off to a lab where testing over his head, and she goes to work. have all you want when we get home,” I could take up to two weeks. She advised July was getting closer and I began to told him as I put his harness and collar on she wanted to start Sawabu on a round of worry about this vet appointment. Little and attached the leash. Dan put his carrier antibiotics while we waited for the results. did I know it would be one of the most in the SUV. I led Sawabu through the Dr. Semilof left the room to get the rever- important vet appointments of Sawabu's house, down the stairs, and into the garage sal drug and antibiotics. She came back life!!!!! We were at a WOWEE educa- where I opened the car door and told him with an idea, saying, "Let’s do some x- tional program at a school in Gorham. "Up, up," and he jumped into his carrier. rays. I just have a feeling that they might Sawabu jumped up on his table like he We drove to Williamson Animal Hospital. shed some light on what is going on. He always does. I fed him chicken while I Dr. Semilof always wants to weigh him is already out and it could take two weeks told the kids about servals and other before she gets started so I asked him to to get the results back, and we might have threatened and endangered species. When come out of the carrier and led him to put him out again. Let’s just do it I was done talking, Sawabu did his trick. through the back rooms and to the scale. now." I throw a piece of chicken down a clear Then I led him back to the exam room and "Go for it," I told her. Dan started to tube, he reaches down the tube and pulls asked him to jump up on the exam table. pick him up to carry him into the x-ray the chicken out with his long front legs Sawabu thought he was at a program, so room. I stopped him and told him, "I have and eats it. I explain that servals do this in he jumped right up on the table. Dr. to do this." After carrying him in we both Semilof asked me to left the room. Dr. Semilof developed the hold him really tight so x-rays and called me in. "Look right here, she could give him a here, and here. Do you see those white shot to relax him. I spots?" "Yes," I said, “What are they?" scruffed him and threw She explained, "They are stones in his a towel over his head bladder. I need to operate to take them just to be safe. She out now. If the test results come back that quickly delivered the they are calcium oxalate stones, we have shot and soon he began to operate, and if they turn out to be stru- to hang his head. At vite stones, they are so large, they will that point she injected take a long time to dissolve." Dan and I him in a vein on the were scared looking at our cat on the inside of his back thigh table, but we trusted our vet and told her to really put him out. to do what ever she had to do. We Dr. Semilof examined watched as they started to prep him, shav- his ears, eyes, mouth, ing the hair on his belly and inserting a down his throat, breathing tube down his throat. Then we between his toes, and were asked to leave. The last thing I saw then she took his tem- was Sawabu being carried into the operat- Sawabu Serval shows off his hunting skills at an perature. All seemed ing room and the door closed. educational program by reaching for a treat at the normal. She gave him The receptionist, Phil, told us the opera- bottom of a plastic tube. his annual vaccinations tion could take about an hour and we

12 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 home numbers. Leave the even spoke. When we got home Dan collar on as long as he will pulled around to the back yard so we keep it on. I would like him could unload at the back door, carry him to wear it for 10 to 14 days. in, and leave him in his carrier, as it is The stitches can come out in a much safer for him at this point. As he week to 10 days. If he will starts to come around a little more he keep the collar on at least until began to stagger and bump his head on the we take the stitches out, that carrier walls. "OH MY, Buddy do not hurt would be wonderful.” But, yourself,” I said to him. I could see the she was talking about a serval, benefits of the E collar already; it cush- and we both knew what that ioned his head from the carrier’s walls. I meant. pulled the blinds and threw a blanket over Dr. Semilof had given him the carrier to make it as dark as possible to a shot of long-term antibiotics keep him calm. and a painkiller. Bladder As we examined his kennel area, we surgery is very painful, so I notice there were a lot of things he would A calcium oxalate stone retrieved by surgery was going to have to try to have trouble getting around with that col- from Sawabu’s bladder measured about a cen- keep him still as much as pos- lar on. The shelf - he ca not jump on that; timent in diameter. sible. She told me that I might the play gym - he will get stuck in that; should go have coffee at McDonalds. see some blood in his urine and his hammock, he LOVES his hammy, “OK, sure,” I thought, “leave my cat here from the surgery and he may dribble urine but it all has to go! We removed every- while you cut his stomach open.” That until his bladder starts to heal. I was still thing and I put a blanket on the floor. did not sound good to me, but I know that very concerned about all this and asked, Sawabu was coming out of his ordeal and they always ask you to leave. I guess they "How did he get these stones and how did wanted to get out of the carrier. We put think it will take your mind off things. So they get so big? Should I have noticed him in his kennel, and he looked around, we drove to McDonalds and got coffee, something was wrong? He never even confused. We were sure he was wonder- passing time talking, but for the life of me stopped eating." She explained, “Stones ing, "Where is all my stuff, what have I I cannot remember what we talked about. sometime develop in cats, especially in done wrong?" He lay on the blanket, It seemed like an eternity and I was anx- nurtured male cats, and sometimes they wanting to go to sleep, but that collar. ious to return to the hospital and get an grow quite fast and the owner might not How would a serval deal with this? update on Sawabu. We drove back and sat notice anything is wrong. Wild animals Sawabu managed just like he had always in the waiting room until finally Phil especially have a very unique way of hid- worn one, which was absolutely amazing announced that Sawabu was in recovery ing that they do not feel good. It is their to me. I wondered how he would manage and Leigh would be out to talk to us short- way of protecting themselves. Sawabu eating. I fixed him Zupreem, warmed like ly. Leigh arrived and showed us a stone did not even have a temperature so you always, and offered it to him, but he could about the size of my baby fingernail. She need not blame yourself; just concentrate not eat it off the floor, so I picked up the explained that she took out three stones, on getting him better.” dish and held it while he ate, and then he and she gave me this one and some of the Dan drove slowly and cautiously going drank some water. I left the bowl of water hair they shaved. She put it all in a small home, being careful not to hit any bumps in the kennel, and thought, “OK, this is bag. The other two stones would be sent to disturb our resting serval. We hardly going to work.” off to be tested. All the time I am think- ing, “OK, sounds good to me, but where is my cat? How did he get these stones and why are they so big?” I feel like I have neglected him. Leigh takes us to see Sawabu, who is in his carrier lying on top of a blanket so he is comfortable. He was fitted with an Elizabethan Collar, his stomach was bare, and I could see a three-inch incision. He was breathing normally, and that made me feel better. Leigh said, “His vitals are good and you can take him home. I know you will monitor him very closely. Give me a call if you have any questions or he does not seem right. Be careful, the Rompun I used can make him do things he would not normally do, like bite, and he Although initially perturbing to Sawabu, his Elizabethan collar kept him will be sensitive to light. I will be in the from being able to dislodge his sutures, so that recovery was faster. office until 8pm and you have my cell and

13 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 This kind of sample can tell her a lot about his kidneys, flower I do not and if any oxalate crystals have come need! I told her back. She wished me luck on getting the about the diar- stitches out, and I tried not to panic. rhea and she I got my scissors, a flashlight, and some suggested chicken. I told Dan to feed him the chick- adding some en through the chain link up high so he yogurt. "The had to stand up against the fence to eat it. antibiotics may That much was working, but how do I have destroyed hold the flashlight and cut the stitches the good bacte- without cutting my cat? Think fool think! ria in his stom- I lay on my back, held the flashlight in my ach and the teeth, and cut the two stitches out. It yogurt will put it WORKED PERFECTLY! OH MY back.” I had GOSH, we have done it! We gave each success using other a high five, and Sawabu an extra yogurt to treat piece of chicken. loose stools in a On June 18 the Elizabethan collar came goat I had, so I off. Sawabu was so happy. All his play mixed a small things were put back in his kennel and he Sawabu’s mom was able to get urine samples to check for amount of jumped right up in his beloved the presence of blood by holding a cup underneath him yogurt with his "HAMMY." The next day I moved him and simply asking him to use the bathroom! food morning outside to his big enclosure, the sweet and night, after smell of fresh air, the stimulation of birds two days his flying around and the dogs and horses to In the morning I rushed down to see stool was back to normal. watch. After a couple hours I brought him how he was doing and he almost had his E On June 14th the stitches were ready to back in and he went right to sleep. collar off. I called Dan and he brought the be removed. I told Dan, "I think I can Dr. Semilof wanted a urine sample duct tape. I managed to get the collar take them out myself." He just looked at every month for a while, just to make sure back on the way it was supposed to be, me like I had four heads. I called the vet no new crystals were forming and to and Dan ripped off pieces of tape and and she thought that was a good idea, check on his kidney function. But do you handed them through the chain link so I since it would save Sawabu the stress of know how to get a urine sample from a could put a piece of tape on each of the going to the clinic and possibly being put serval? tabs on the collar. out again. She informed me she got the On July 7th I took in stool and urine Over the next few days everything was results back from the urine and blood samples. The stool sample is easy to get. going well. Sawabu ate and drank, and samples. The stones were definitely Sawabu is litter trained and always goes in even figured out how to drink without me oxalate and the blood work showed his his box. I just pick it out; don't even have holding the bowl. The food bowl I still kidneys were compromised. His creati- to hunt for it. The urine is another thing. had to hold for him. Best of all, the E col- nine was elevated and that meant his kid- This part you will not believe. I bring him lar is staying on. YIPEE!!!!!!!! Sawabu’s neys were not working right. “Oh, what into his inside kennel, let him smell a urine output was getting better, with less do we do now?” I asked. My heart was small cup I am holding, and say "You got dribbling, and I was starting to see less sinking. to pee?" He starts pacing and climbing on blood in the urine. Sawabu was trying to My vet wanted to keep track of his kid- his shelf and pacing some more. In about groom himself, a very good sign, and I ney function, and normally that meant tak- five minutes he comes to the litter box, discovered that he really wanted his neck ing more blood scratched. I put my hands down his neck, samples. But where the collar is tied, and started she did not ANIMAL FINDERS GUIDE scratching. OH, he really liked that. He want to put 18 issues for only $30.00 purred and pushed against my fingers. I him out again would scratch him for about five minutes because the three times a day. anesthesia is Informative articles on exotic The only thing concerning me was that filtered thru the animal husbandry. Exotic animals, he had developed diarrhea, so I mixed kidneys and products, services, auctions and shows advertised. some boiled white rice into his food, but that could the rice did not work. Our daughter, bother them PO Box 99, Prairie Creek, IN 47869 Heather, stopped over to see how things more. She 812-898-2678 or Fax 812-898-2013 were progressing and I showed her the asked me to try visit our website at www.animalfindersguide.com stone they took out. She took one look at to get a urine email: [email protected] it and said, "It looks like a flower. Oh specimen from Mom, he is growing flowers for you." him, because a

14 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 squats and pees. All I do is hold the cup them for me and his in the stream. Works every time. daughter, Laurie, helps me The stool sample was negative. There pack them for freezing. was a lot of blood and crystals in the Sawabu just loves his deer urine, but no infection. Dr. Semilof said bones almost as much as she had some emails out to other vets that he loves his "hammy." might be able to help. In a few days she Without those bones, we called. A vet from the University of Cali- might not have made it fornia, Davis had emailed her and said through that first week on Sawabu needed to eat a diet of Royal Royal Canine. Canine High Protein Calorie Control By now the whole canned food which is 341 calories a day, neighborhood knew that and three cans a day. These are only six- Sawabu had surgery. One ounce cans, 18 ounces a day. I really neighbor, who is a dieti- didn’t know about all this, but Dr. Semilof cian for people, came over was sure this would help with the crystals. to see him with a printout Dan purchased a case of 24 cans. about calcium oxalate Sawabu would not eat it. OH DARN, stones for me to read. It During his convalescence, Sawabu received lots now what? So I gave him his Zupreem contained a lot of wonder- of fan mail and well wishes from neighborhood canned small feline diet and his crunchy ful information about children who have been impressed by his ambas- Mazuri and called Dr. Semilof. She sug- oxalate stones and what a sador activities. gested mixing the Royal Canine with person should and should chicken or turkey. I decided to mix it with not eat. Too bad Sawabu will not eat veg- Between our fabulous family, neighbors, chicken since Sawabu loves his chicken etables! All the neighborhood kids friends and people I work with, we have a but NOPE, not this time. He chirped at stopped in from time to time to see great support system going. They really me for his food, and seemed to be telling Sawabu. A group of them even made him do appreciate the work that Sawabu does me, "Get that stuff out of here and give get well cards in hopes it would help. teaching people about threatened and me my Zupreem and Mazuri." As hard as Sawabu loved seeing the kids from inside endangered species. The last six months this was, I decided that "tuff love" was in his kennel. I taped the cards to his kennel he has been on medical leave, and I do not order. Reluctantly, I walked away and left and he would stand up every once in know whether I will retire him permanent- him to figure it out. awhile to smell and look at them. I ly or not. Time will tell. I still take a urine The next week was really rough. emailed all of Sawabu's friends who could sample in every month, and every month Sawabu had decided he was not going to not visit him to share news of his it is clear, is one more month we have eat that foul brown glob in his bowl and I progress. Denise, Roger, Nancy, Donna, with him. The new food is working very had decided he was going to. Finally, he Chris, Dawn, Linda and the list goes on. well. I am so much more aware of him decided that maybe it now. Maybe too is not so bad mixed much; I have pan- with chicken or Registered Exotic Feline Handler Program icked several times, turkey, and started calling Dr. Semilof. The FCF board of directors congratulates the following individuals for eating it. Now you Each time she being accepted into the Registered Exotic Feline Handler Program since may think that I am answers my ques- the past Journal issue. heartless for making tions and reassures him eat what he Mark Chapels - Advanced me we are on the doesn't want, but I Vera Chapels - Advanced right track. did give him a few Sawabu is such a treats, like thawed The three levels of FCF Feline Handler registration are: basic – at least one year of wonderful ambas- frozen rats, ice experience, intermediate – at least five years of experience, and advanced – more sador for his species. cream, and deer than ten years’ experience handling exotic felines. He loads up in his bones, just enough to Be sure to update your registration in the members-only website when you obtain carrier very well. fill in. I work part additional handling experience or new species experience. If you believe your experi- He jumps on his time at Smith Pack- ences qualify you for an upgrade in registration status, make a request with your table every time and ing, which processes updates and the secretary will process the registration. does his trick and I deer during hunting The online registration form can be filled out directly in the members-only section know he loves it season. My boss, of the FCF website and the $30.00 registration fee can be made through PayPal. when the kids clap. Clarence, is very The board further challenges all FCF facilities to apply for accreditation by the I can see it on his generous and lets me FCF Accreditation Board. The overview, basic standards, and accreditation applica- face. WHAT A have some of the bet- tion are on the FCF members-only website. GIFT THIS SER- ter leftovers for my Congratulations to all of these members for their dedication to their cats. VAL IS. cat. Barry, George DeLong, FCF Secretary Clarence's son, cuts

15 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 A Swinging Enrichment Idea By Dolly Guck

I have found that one of the best enrich- ments for a serval is a hammock. Of course you have to make your own or have someone make it for you, they just do not make hammocks big enough for the larger cats. I make mine out of Duck Cloth. It is a tough cotton material that is completely washable and does not shrink too much when put in the dryer. I do hang mine outside when possible. The cloth does stretch to make a nice little divot for your serval when he lays in it. Duck Cloth also comes in a variety of colors so you can make things “pretty” for your USDA inspector. When my inspector asked if my serval liked his hammock, my reply was, “I would not have a serval without having a hammy.” I have a hammock in each one of my serval’s enclosures and am sure other small to medium cats would LOVE one. I had to experi- ment a little to get the size and style right to suit my serval. Sawabu Serval absolutely loves to relax in his “hammy,” a homemade This style and size I have found works enrichment item that Dolly devised to accommodate her larger than aver- the best. You will need two and a half age exotic pet. yards of 60” wide duck cloth (canvas). Cut two pieces of duck cloth that are 40” val a place to “hang over” if he so wishes. material from the corner reinforcements. x 45”. Lay the two pieces together and Without this precut half circle, I found Turn the hammock right side out. Make cut a half circle from the 40” side of one that my serval would chew his own! sure to pull all the corners out, and the end so it is about 30” from the other end Out of the half circle piece that you cut reinforcement pieces lay flat. Ironing (See photo illustration). out and would throw away as waste, cut helps to make sure everything lays flat The half circle cutout is the front of the four, five-inch by five-inch squares. Use and is in place. Iron the opening edges hammock. The half circle gives your ser- these squares by sewing them into the cor- towards the inside of the hammock. Now ners for rein- sew around the outside of the hammock forcement. Put about one quarter inch from the outside the two large edge. Then sew about one quarter inch pieces of the from the stitching you just did. This will hammock togeth- help strengthen the edges. Sew diagonally er so the right across the corners about two and a half sides are togeth- inches from the center of the corner. Then er. Pin one, five- sew again about one quarter inch from inch by five-inch where you just sewed. This will strength- piece in each of en the corners. the four corners. Draw a straight line diagonally across Sew around the the hammock from one corner to the edges about one opposite corner. You should end up with inch in from the the lines crossing in the middle of the edge. Make sure hammock. Sew along these lines. This to leave an open- will keep the hammock from sagging in ing about six the middle. Put one-half-inch grommets inches long along in each corner. Your hammock is now one of the ready for hanging. I use several double straight edges to end snaps put together to hang mine. Just Dolly shows us how to cut the canvas material so that it turn the ham- be VERY sure that whatever you use will already has a side for animals to hang over, which her mock right side not be able to twist and hang your cat. serval had chewed out for himself in the past. out. Cut the extra Good luck!!!!!!!!

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P.O. Box 118 • Inglefield, IN 47618-9998 E-mail: [email protected] Place Your order online today! www.rodentpro.com Terms: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, PayPal, cashier’s check or money order payable to RodentPro.com®. Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 A Visit to Eden on Earth: Mala Mala Reserve By Lynn Culver roaming around. This For the longest time, my bucket list was was the rather short; experience Africa and its Airstrip male, amazing wildlife. It is short, not because I a five-year-old, have done so much in my life, I just do and the Kik- not have a lot of “wants.” I consider ilezi female, 11 myself a minimalist, though some people years old, might question that self-description when whose most they see four-dozen wild felines in my recent daughter care. is 14 months Now the list is empty and I tell people I old. This can die fulfilled. I joined 26 other animal would not be enthusiasts for a one-week stay at the the only sight- Mala Mala Main Camp, South Africa’s ing of this pair premiere private reserve bordering Kruger during our National Park. Each November, the Rare weeklong stay, Species Fund leads these trips, and last and this court- November was one of the largest groups ing pair would attending. In addition to myself, other share intimate FCF members attending were Robert moments with Johnson, Patty Perry, Bill and Melissa us in the days Mala Mala is famous for its abundance of leopards, and this Meadows, Fred Boyajian, Bobbi Staley, ahead. trip was no exception. Game rangers drive visitors to within Barry Bland, David Lewis, Amy and In addition a few feet of the "Son of the Dudley female," one of the China York, Doc, Tawny, and Kody Antle, to the leopard many leopards sighted during our week long stay. and new members who signed up during pair, the Land the week’s stay were Cliff and Linda Rover drove down to the sandy banks of a cation with each other. Sightings of the Bowers, Robert Bishop, Jim and Kathy dry river bed to bring us within 20 feet of big five are reported, as are rare species or Constantelo, and Ron and Laurie Werry. the Styx pride of lions, consisting of four species of special interest to guests. In After a 14-hour flight, we arrived in female adults, five cubs, four of which our case, we were the cat people, so every the Johannesburg airport. I was surprised were nine month old siblings, the remain- cat sighting was viewed by most of the to see all signs in English and billboard ing one just three months old. The family vehicles, though only three vehicles may advertising messages emphasizing recy- was relaxed and did not mind our pres- view them at the same time. If it is an cling, energy efficiency, and environmen- ence. We sat in our open-air vehicles, especially popular animal and more than tal awareness, even more so than in the with nothing between the big cats and our- three vehicles want to view, they are rotat- U.S. selves, and took countless photos and con- ed in so that each vehicle may see a differ- Our group took a small commuter plane versed. Our game driver, Ross, a native ent progression of some natural event. to the private landing strip in the 33,000- South African, was extremely knowledge- Sunday, we made history, sighting not acre Mala Mala Reserve. We were shown able about all the animals we viewed and I only the “big five” – elephant, rhino, Cape to our individual guesthouses and a short loved listening to his accent as he identi- buffalo, lion, and leopard, but also the while later we assembled in the lodge for fied each of the different species of bird, “magnificent seven” – with the added lunch before taking off on our first game antelope, and other mammals, and told us sighting of a pack of painted dogs and a ride that afternoon. As tired as everyone what he knew about the histories and per- cheetah coalition. The day started out was, we woke up fast from the excitement sonalities of each individual feline. with sightings of hippo, baboon, kudu, of finally being in the bush, sighting all We were off to a good start and and the ever present impala, a host of bird sorts of animals. In just a matter of a few returned back to camp to enjoy a wonder- life – red-billed and yellow-billed hook hours, we saw an elephant herd feeding on ful dinner outdoors in the boma, which bills, guinea fowl, Hammerkop, white- giant elephant grass on the banks of the was a large round area, created by stand- backed vultures, marabou storks, and red Sand River, babies playing in the water, ing bamboo reeds about 15 feet tall into a breasted coran. Then we sighted the Holy waterbuck, bushbuck, steenbok, impala, wall about a foot thick, shaped into a cir- Grail – a pair of cheetah brothers resting Cape buffalo, giraffes, baboons, and jack- cle. Inside the boma were large Marula on a termite mound. These mounds can al. Some of the birdlife included lilac- trees that formed a shady canopy, making be up to ten feet tall and are not the prod- breasted rollers, lesser-masked weaver, a natural roof of sorts. Everyone com- uct of a wood eating termite species, but a and wire-tailed swallow. But we all know pared notes on what they saw, as there grass eating termite that farms fungus on that is not what we came for; it’s the cats, were six different drivers in the RSF the composting grass. They are all over and we were not disappointed. We parked group and not everyone takes the same Africa and plenty of animals use these our Land Rover ten feet from a leopard path. Drivers each head out in different structures for homes and habitats. Ross pair which spent time both resting and directions and remain in radio communi- informed us that this coalition was origi-

18 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 nally four males, but two had disappeared. the most incredible and A short while later, we viewed a lion pair, unforgettable sighting. male and female, sleeping. The Manyeleti The leopard pair we saw male, Three-Tooth, about eight years old, yesterday was now in was brother to Dark Mane, two males left full breeding mode and from an original coalition of four. Beside we watched as the him and resting was the Eyrefield female, Airstrip male and Kik- about four years old, and, if their ilezi female copulated. courtship is successful, it will be her first Ross told us that the pregnancy. We returned to camp and Airstrip male is estab- watched a herd of 20 elephants walk lishing his territory in downriver while we were eating lunch the middle of Mala outside on the porch. Mala. Seeing these cats At four in the afternoon, with lion, breed and seemingly cheetah, and elephants already sighted, we ignore the Land Rovers continued our amazing game viewing and the sound of our streak. We watched as a pair of rhinos, an never-ending camera old male and younger male, sparred and clicks seemed surreal. played by the Sand River. Then we saw But what followed was the other very rare visitors to Mala Mala, even more astonishing to painted wild dogs, a pack of eleven dogs me. The darkness of on a hunt. Ross had been radioed that night was upon us and they were spotted and we arrived just as we followed as the male they emerged from the dense brush and stalked a herd of impala, into the road, where one by one they all the ubiquitous food trotted down the road right by our vehicle. source for predators, The leopard known as the Airstrip male hung his This was really big news as this species is until he homed in on a impala fawn prize from a branch in the Marula tree so rare that it had not been sighted for lone fawn. The fawn was with three Land Rovers full of cameras clicking months and everyone wanted to view it, bedded down and the and spotlights glowing parked below. so we had to move on. Later groups got leopard made a quick entire length of the reserve, attracting ani- to see the dogs make two impala fawn and easy kill, then began to carry his prize mals to migrate out of the park. And kills and, reportedly within minutes, the by the neck, looking for a tree to climb. being a private reserve with three camps pack had ripped the victims to pieces and Vehicles followed with spotlights to stay and more than a dozen game drivers going it was gone. with the Airstrip male until he found just out twice a day, the animals are protected The afternoon continued with sightings the right Marula tree, very near our camp. from trespassers and poaching, evidenced of fish eagle, impala, night jar, and then In classic leopard form, he climbed the by the numerous rhino sightings. Life for tree, fawn dangling from his clenched a predator seems easy, as the impala are teeth, until he located just the right everywhere, offering themselves up to branch and stashed his kill, and for the leopards and lions like sacrificial lambs next five minutes he just panted. Then for slaughter. But, sadly, Mala Mala is an he began licking the blood from the oasis in a real life war zone. Lucky visi- wounds on the fawn’s neck, and we all tors to this reserve gain a glimpse into watched and listened as his canines what Africa used to be like. penetrated the skull and crunched the Monday morning we came across a bones as he ate the tender, young young female leopard, approximately 20 fawn’s face. It was time to leave, and months old, the daughter of the Kikilezi as we headed back to camp spotlight- male, laying on a huge bolder outcrop- ing in the dark, we spotted the noctur- ping. She dozed, seemingly oblivious to nal civet cat, a troop of baboons, and a the rotating vehicles, each full of cat herd of Cape buffalo (the missing lovers anxious to capture the perfect species from the “big five”), so today it photo. And that afternoon, we saw anoth- completed the “magnificent seven!” er leopard, the son of the Dudley female, Seeing so much wildlife in such a born in 2009. This individual was walk- short period of time creates the impres- ing away from a group of rhinos, one of sion that Africa is healthy and its which was definitely after the leopard, wildlife abundant and fertile. Certain- while the leopard was pursuing a group of ly it is in Mala Mala, but that is impalas, clearly interested in making a Airstrip male and Kikilezi female copu- because of its unique location, border- kill. However, the impala departed before late before going on an impala hunt. ing the Kruger National Park, and the he ambushed any. It was a very interest- Photo by Rob Johnson. presence of the Sand River running the

19 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 tions in the impala’s eyes. After taking in the new scent, sound, and visual information, the leopard continued its forward direction. Ross did a quick sweep with the spotlight and revealed the leopard headed right for the bedded impala herd, and again we sat in darkness waiting, and a minute later heard the cry of the victim. It was dark and late, and past time for us to eat as well, so we left the successful hunter to enjoy his well-deserved meal in peace. As we proceeded home, Ross spotlighted the surrounding vegetation looking for the creatures of the night. Our headlights revealed a giant and beautiful African eagle owl in the road, which took off and landed in a nearby tree. Each day we wondered what would top the previous day, and my mantra - “lions on a kill” - was answered on Tuesday morning. We came across the Manyeleti male, Three-Tooth, and Eyrefield female, eating what appeared to be impala. That The 20 month old daughter of the Kilkilezi male relaxes on a large boulder afternoon, Ross positioned the Land as a series of Land Rovers rotate positions to give us multiple photo- Rover to watch a herd of elephants climb graphic opportunities. up from the riverbank just in front of our vehicle, passing very closely. Later, we ing afternoon, with our first sighting of spotted the intended victims off in the dis- found the Four-Ways pride again, relax- zebra, lavender-crested rollers, brown- tance; an impala herd that had bedded ing, and then Ross was notified of another headed parrots, a bateluer eagle in flight, a down and a single fawn alone. With leopard sighting. He drove us to a sandy, vervet monkey mother with baby, and a lights turned out, we sat in silence in the dry riverbank where a big male leopard, baboon troop. We came across a mother Land Rover, all of us knowing that it was the son of the female Spotter, born in hyena and her two cubs; stomachs dis- just a matter of time. The leopard walked 2006, was resting; a big female kudu lay tended from a recent feast, unable to do forward, then sat. Leopards have excel- dead nearby. This must have been an epic anything more than lie flat on the ground. lent night vision and can see the reflec- battle between the two; the ante- After that, we met another lion lope was well over one hundred pride, this one named the Four- pounds. Ways pride; a pair of females We returned the next day to and three 18 month old cubs. see that the kudu had been They were sleeping when we dragged to a new position and arrived, and we parked to take Spotter’s son was lying nearby photos. One of the females under a thorn thicket, guarding stood up and walked our way, his kill. An hour later, we came posing for the cameras. Ross across another male leopard explained that two other resting on a termite mound. females were part of this pride, This was a dispersing male, new but absent on this day. We to Mala Mala. Then we saw would meet the Four- Ways four species of eagles: a pair of pride again before we left Mala tawny eagles, a brown snake Mala and experience one of the eagle, a bateleur eagle, and, most hair-raising, heart-stop- finally, we sighted the incredibly ping adrenaline rushes of my large Marshall eagle. Later, we life. watched a coalition of four adult The day concluded with male lions, the Selati pride, rest- another leopard sighting just at ing in the grass. Several of the twilight. This leopard was on a vehicles had trekked far south hunt, and we followed as it that day and found a leopard wandered, determined to find a known as the Jakkals Braai meal. By now, we had to use One of the Four-Ways pride adult female lions walks in female with her pair of seven spotlights to keep up and we front of the Land Rover. month old cubs, and they had

20 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 on elephant grass and metal-wheeled monsters crash over the enjoying how close they tops of the small trees and shrubs to fol- were, especially the low a hunt, is something you have to babies. A big matriarch experience to comprehend. I am used to approached the vehicle, wild animals running at the sight of ears flapping wide. She humans. And here at Mala Mala, it is appeared agitated at us, more like Eden, with the predators not perhaps feeling protective wishing us harm and never violating the of all the youngsters. She sanctity of the open-air Land Rovers. walked directly towards I asked Ross about the rifle on the vehi- us and Ross instructed cle hood, whether it was cocked and on everyone to stay seated safety, as it was, I assumed, there for our and be quiet. Nobody protection. And Ross was totally sur- had to tell us that. We prised that I would ask that, as he were acutely aware of explained that driving with a loaded gun her, and not only were we on safety is illegal in South Africa. It did not speaking, we were not breath- One of two, seven month old cubs of the Jakkals ing either! The Braai female. The mother and sibling were gone giant pachyderm when we arrived, but this cub gave us plenty to stopped within photograph. three feet of Jim, who was seated radioed their location to Ross. We arrived alone in the bench farthest back; to find just one of the cubs sitting high up his wife Kathy and I were in the on the boulders which concealed the den, bench in front. The elephant as the mother and sibling had apparently stared at Jim, ears fully extended. left the area. It wandered around and gave What was she contemplating, I us numerous photo opportunities. We wondered? Ross suddenly clapped searched the area, but only saw this one his hands loudly and confidently cub, though earlier vehicles saw all three ordered the elephant to move on, that day. which she thankfully did as we all Wednesday afternoon contained two sighed in relief. really close calls for us. It started out But that was just the first of two being mostly a day for bird watching; hair-raising experiences. Later that sightings included tawny eagle, Walberg afternoon just before sunset, we eagle, Egyptian geese, tailless hornbill, found the Four-Ways pride again. and European beaters in flight. Then we This time the two females and their came across another elephant herd, about trio of 18 month old cubs were The Four-Ways pride just minutes before two dozen adults with babies. We parked lounging in the lush, green grass. the closest female mock charged us. by the Sand River, watching them graze We parked and watched, hoping for some have bullets in the clip, but a round is action; maybe the cubs never chambered, he explained. As we would play or we would were having this discussion, Ross picked see a hunt. Ross accom- up the rifle and worked the bolt to demon- modated our requests to strate what he was saying. Immediately, I change locations for photos became nervous, as the lady lions were so and eventually we were close and I did not want them to get the parked just 20 feet or so wrong idea that we were hunters. When from the mother lions. Ross raised the rifle and worked the bolt, Although I had read pre- the movement and sound aroused both vious accounts of game sleeping lionesses and one suddenly sat viewing at Mala Mala in up, growled, and charged the vehicle! She the FCF March/April 2011 stopped about ten feet short of us, a mock Journal, “Ten Leopards in charge that scared everyone into silence. Ten Days,” the reality of Ross explained that when this Kruger seeing these animals, their National Park female first started showing total lack of fear, and non- up at Mala Mala, she mock charged every A close encounter with this suspicious matriarch chalant attitude as these game vehicle she saw. It took months for had everyone in the vehicle holding their breath. lumbering, multi-ton her to settle down and today we saw that

21 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 she still has a hair trigger. ed them and fol- Thursday, we found that same pack of lowed, the female wild dogs resting, a herd of about one leopard still in hundred Cape buffalo, warthogs, wilde- estrus and rubbing beest, rhino, and elephant. We also came sensuously on the upon the Manyeleti male, Three-Tooth, male, beckoning and the Eyrefield female lion mating, with him to service her. another female from that same pride lying They bred three nearby. We found another female leopard times right in front scent-marking, wandering here and there, of us. On our return walking very close to the truck. This was drive to the camp, the seven-year-old, Ostrich Coppes leop- Ross spotlighted a ard, which has a14 month old cub named bush baby in a tree, Yomaster. It was raining that afternoon, a scrub hare, a but we were not deterred, still hoping to white-tailed mon- witness another hunt. She came upon an goose, a sleeping impala buck which spotted her and stood Franklin bird in a Cheetah brother coalition spent the afternoon resting his ground, barking at her to let her know tree, and, in the road in the grassy field on the property bordering Mala Mala, that she could not ambush him. And in front of us, anoth- but headed our way that evening to go hunting. before the night was over, we came upon er white-tailed mon- the Airstrip male and Kikilezi female goose mother and her two kits. She we had seen on Sunday. The coalition again. Now it was dark, but we spotlight- picked one up in her mouth and carried it was lying in the shade of a large tree, to her termite exposed in a grassy area on the property mound den. Ross bordering Mala Mala. We could see them marked the spot from a distance, but were not allowed to in the road by trespass in order to get a closer look. To dropping a tree reach the cheetah, we had driven by a branch, as such a large herd of blue wildebeest with a sin- find is rare, and gle, newborn calf, its umbilical cord still he will make a visible. We decided to return to the chee- point to return at tah that afternoon, hoping that they would night with other get active at sunset, but found them in the guests to possibly same position, not having moved all day. see this fascinat- We parked and waited. I was mentally ing and beautiful willing them to get up and, just as Ross inhabitant of had given up and began driving away, one Mala Mala. stood up and started walking. We stopped Friday morn- to watch and noticed that when the brother followed, he was limping, apparently hav- Manyeleti male Three-Tooth mates with the Eyrefield ing, we found the ing suffered some sort of injury. Luck female. same cheetah pair was on our side as the pair crossed over onto Mala Mala property and approached us. They climbed a large termite mound for a better look, paused, and took time to smell the air, then climbed down and headed in the direction of the wildebeest herd; they were in hunting mode. The grass was tall and the land had various elevations and brush, with small trees to screen the spotted pair as they approached the unsuspecting herd. Ross and the other game drivers raced ahead, confident of the pair’s intentions, and positioned the vehicles between the cheetahs and the wildebeest. Suddenly a pair of jackals appeared and began hassling the wildebeest and, even before the cheetah reached the edge of the open field, the herd was on the Cheetah coalition climbs a large termite mound to get a better view of the move. The injured brother lagged behind, wildebeest herd. but the healthy brother suddenly broke

22 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012

One of the cheetah brothers gives chase to the wildebeest hoping to cut the lone calf off from the herd. Photo by Robert Johnson. into a full run to attempt to cut the calf off Land Rover, so we mowed over them and Our final day at Mala Mala, we met up from the herd. Unfortunately, without his crashed into the rugged brush in pursuit of with a single male lion, Blacknose, broth- brother for back up, it was a fruitless the hunting party. Eventually, we lost er to Three-Tooth, the lion we saw mating endeavor. The entire sprint lasted less sight of the lionesses and calculated where this week; both are members of the than a minute, and the cheetah was wind- they were headed in an attempt to intersect Manyeleti pride. And, in a final farewell, ed. The herd assembled and faced off them, but failed. Three vehicles were we came across the Airstrip male leopard with the cheetah, the baby wildebeest spotlighting the woods, but the lionesses once again. This time he was alone; his safely out of reach. What a spectacle to had vanished. That night, I was thorough- mate now out of estrus, the pair had parted see! ly impressed with Ross’s ability to navi- ways. He was extremely relaxed and pho- Other vehicles had been radioed of the gate off-road in the dark, in the woods, togenic on this very sunny, blue-sky day. event and they wanted a turn at viewing. and not get lost, stuck, or injured. The It was a perfect ending to my visit to a real We got to see the hunt and were satisfied vehicles are not equipped with any GPS, life Eden on Earth. to move on. We found the Styx pride not even a compass. cubs, the same pride we saw on our very first game ride. The lion cubs were playing without their mothers, who were apparently going on a hunt. We watched the four nine month old cubs and the single three month old cub chew each other, swat, and roll in the grass. It was sundown and the mothers had been spotted, so we left the cubs in hopes that we would witness a lion hunt. We found four females about a half-mile away, literally lying in the road. After a while, they got up and we noticed one female was limping badly. Ross told us that she was 16 years old, a ripe age for a wild lioness. We followed as they left the road and traveled into the bush. And bush it was; small trees, one to five inches in diameter, were nothing to Ross and the The Airfield male basks in the bright sunlight as we all wish him a fond farewell.

23 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 53, Issue 6—November/December 2009

“Bhavantu” the royal white tiger on Miami Beach, filming an international commercial for the Kinder chocolate company.

24 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 53, Issue 6—November/December 2009

Moksha Bybee works with “Rishi” the orangutan on the set of the upcoming movie “Sleepless in the Jungle.” RSF donated more than $10,000 from this film to directly support Orangutan Foundation International and to rehabilitate more than 350 orphaned orangutans in the jungles of Borneo.

25 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Laohu Valley Report

South China tiger brothers Coco and JenB wander inside their 100-acre habitat. The pair has been rewilded and they now hunt blesbuck for food. Photo by Lynn Culver. By Patty Perry approximately 80 of them living in Chinese zoos. Li used her own recourses, influence, You will no doubt be reading about our and time to establish a viable plan for this recent trip to Africa in this issue of the Jour- monumental project. Li set up Save China’s nal. Twenty-seven of us spent a life-changing Tigers, an international charitable organiza- week on safari in Mala Mala. For a small tion, in 2000. SCT is solely dedicated to sav- group of us, the magic did not end there. ing the South China tiger from extinction. Four of us remained in South Africa, to After she helped establish the historic reintro- explore and experience more of what we duction agreement with the Chinese govern- came there for. The next several days were ment, Li moved forward in her effort to save spent traveling east to visit the South China an important part of Chinese culture. Avail- Tiger rewilding project at Laohu Valley able land being a problem in China, led to Reserve, then further south to visit Cheetah searching for a suitable location for a reserve Outreach and Eagle Encounters at Spier, in that would facilitate all the needs required to Cape Town. breed, populate, and rewild this magnificent Perhaps the most inspiring stop was the animal. After convincing both the Chinese Laohu Valley Reserve in Philippolis. This is and South African governments that this where one amazing woman has set up shop to would work, South Africa became home for "Save China’s Tigers." Do not let Li Quan's the project. Li and her husband, Stuart Bray, appearance fool you. Although she is a purchased 17 former sheep farms which reserved and delicate little beauty on the out- encompassed some 300 kilometers of land. Li Quan points out Laohu Val- side, Li Quan is a self-confident, dynamic Together, they built the place where dreams ley Reserve, outlined in red, a businesswoman on the inside. Li made up her would come true. 33,000-hectare property bor- mind that she would see her passion and con- Between September 2003 and April 2007, a dering a lake on one side, viction with the South China tiger to a posi- total of five tigers arrived from China to with the river running from tive end. She is well on her way. The South South Africa. They would be the foundation one end of the property to the China tiger is verging on extinction, with less of the breeding program. This would be a 15- other. than 30 remaining in the wild. There are year program. Plans are for all of the tigers to

26 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012

months old, and King Henry, a young adult. On the other side of their area was another habitat holding a mother tiger named Cathay and her three young cubs. From the safety of the truck, we observed the playful antics of each group, and off in the distance we could see another fenced habitat that held a potential breeding pair, Princess and Hulooo. Li explained that they had been together for some time, but she was not optimistic that they would ever breed. She had become discouraged by their lack of interest, after endlessly hoping and observing. We spent consider- able time at each stop, discussing and The long-awaited breeding of young Hulooo and Princess was caught on watching the various tigers, this one being film while FCF members were in attendance at Laohu Valley! Photo by no exception. As we were all standing in Barry Bland. the back of the vehicle listening to Li eventually be returned to the wild in under the trees down by the river and not express her frustration, lo and behold, China. usually visible. But luck was with us that Princess and Hulooo began to breed!!! Fast forward to our visit in November day and they both made an appearance, Watching her reaction was both comical 2011. We arrived at Laohu Valley hanging around the truck so we could and endearing. Her mouth dropped open, Reserve, where Li greeted us. This was a photograph them. her eyes widened, and she cried, "Oh, my place of peace and promise. As Li escort- So far, all of the imported zoo tigers God!!! S**t, s**t! They are doing it!!! ed us through the reserve, it became more have been rewilded, with the exception of S**t!!!!!” Of course, we all tried con- and more apparent that she maintained an “327,” who probably spent too many vincing her that WE brought the good intimate knowledge and connection to years in a zoo to make the transition to luck. every single aspect of this incredible cre- hunting successfully and was recently With that reaction and depth of commit- ation. She knew every movement and killed in a tiger fight. The Laohu Valley ment, I would bet that the South Chinese every nuance of every tiger in this vast tigers are now hunting, breeding, and rais- tiger has no chance of failing. ecosystem. Her concern for each of them ing their young. A total of eight offspring We will continue to support and follow paralleled that of a new mother. had been produced thus far, and another this project with great enthusiasm and Li drove us into the 100-acre habitat litter of unknown size was with their tiger respect. Thank you, Li Quan. We wish that housed Coco and JenB, an adult pair mother, Madonna. that there were a lot more of you out of male tigers. She drove us around look- We drove into an enclosure housing a there... Keep up the great work!!! ing for the pair, which she said are often pair of male tigers, Huwaa, about six Three Updates from Save China’s Tigers By Li Quan ground and was holding him by the throat. breaking incident a couple of months ear- They immediately started shouting and lier, but this was one of the four remaining Monday September 26, 2011 blowing vehicle horns, to no avail. They gates that had not yet been upgraded. Pioneering Tiger Dies at Laohu Valley then entered the camp in a truck and drove Inspection of the second male showed Reserve, Free State, South Africa off the other tiger, separating him into no obvious injuries except a few scratch- Save China’s Tigers suffered a great another camp. es. Tiger “327” was the only first genera- loss the evening of September 17, 2011, Tiger “327” was dead and closer inspection tiger at Laohu who was not put into with the death of “327,” a South China tion noted throat injuries. The entire skir- our rewilding program due to his age tiger. Tiger “327” had broken through the mish lasted only about five minutes. An when he came to South Africa. It is evi- gate of an adjoining tiger camp to attack assessment of the circumstances revealed dent that he was no match for the second another adult male, but was subsequently that “327” had charged right through the male, who has gone through rewilding killed by the second male. electrified gate separating the two tiger training for six years and acquired superb Both tigers were part of a decade-long camps to launch an attack on the other hunting skills and who killed “327” easily conservation project to rewild and breed male. Subsequent testing of fencing volt- despite being smaller than him. critically endangered South China tigers ages revealed the fencing was still operat- Born in captivity, “327” was four and a before returning them to protected nature ing at recommended performance levels; half years old when he was flown from reserves in China. however, the tiger had broken through the China’s Suzhou Zoo in April 2007, as part While feeding some tigers, staff heard gate area which does not have the added of the Save China’s Tigers project’s inno- loud roaring and growls from another electrified tripwire security. All gates on vative rewilding and breeding program in tiger camp. Rushing to inspect, staff saw the reserve had been upgraded with added collaboration with the Chinese govern- a male tiger had “327” pinned down to the steel mesh protection after a similar fence- ment. “327,” named after his studbook

27 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 registration number, was hand-reared by human parents, making him extremely habituated to humans. Having never been proven in China and declining to mate with two tigresses offered him at Laohu, he was banished to a natural environment for about a year, feeding entirely on natural prey. He thrived and eventually fathered three litters of four healthy cubs and is the father of a litter being carried by Madonna. Save China’s Tigers Founding Direc- tor, Ms. Li Quan, and her team were dev- astated by the loss of “327.” Li stated, “With so few South China tigers left, the loss of just one breeding male is profound. I am, however, glad that he lived half of his life like a wild tiger instead of perish- ing in a zoo cage. He died a heroic death, tiger-style.” South China tiger #327 was a stunning example of his species. Having Reserve Manager Hein Funck said, lived for too many years in Chinese captivity, although he was lucky “Although I only knew him for a short enough to reside in Laohu Valley, he never made the successful transition time, he made a big impression. I will to being rewilded. miss his cheeky strut and his loving rum- ble.” is primarily due to the government sanc- ly. As one scientist noted, in a perverse Tigers have complex behaviors and, tioned pest elimination campaign in the way, this accident shows that the rewild- while adult siblings often share prey in the 1960s and 70s, as well as habitat ing project has proven to be a success. wild, males will have to fight for territory encroachment and loss of prey due to Tiger “327” was majestic and will be in order to survive and mate with females. development. missed by all of us who are fond of him. Laohu Valley Reserve is currently home “Despite our best efforts, we were In spite of these sometimes heart-breaking to 11 tigers which have been undergoing unable to prevent this unfortunate loss. challenges, we at Save China’s Tigers rewilding training and participating in a We have learned another lesson; we are remain committed to our work of saving breeding program that counts eight now dealing with rewilded and highly the South China tiger from extinction and healthy second generation tigers born in intelligent big cats that can hunt and kill restoring its ecosystem for generations to South Africa. The IUCN Red listed South efficiently. We will need to improve our come,” said Ms. Quan. China tiger’s critically endangered status safety standards and protocols according- November 27, 2011 First Time Mating by Second Genera- tion Rewilded South China Tigers A few months ago, Princess was put with the Hulooo brothers when we observed signs of sexual maturity in her and her brother King Henry. She was first put in with Hulooo, but there seemed to be no love lost between them. Then I decided to put JenB and Coco in with her to see if competition among the brothers may motivate some behavior changes in her or the Hulooo brothers. Soon, I did notice her timidly trying to get close to the incredibly bonded brothers, which was an encouraging sign. Then the party was broken from time to time, as she had to be moved out on a couple of occasions due to her food getting stolen by the gang of brothers, and later JenB and Coco had to move back to their 100-hectare hunting camp after the 327 surprised the staff at Save China’s Tigers when he finally gave in to snow-damaged fences were repaired. the tempations of Cathay, another SCT resident. Most recently, she was alone with Hulooo.

28 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 This morning, I saw her sneaking up to to be almost reluctant. ments might have some truth. I kept hop- Hulooo, rubbing her head against him, I feel overwhelmed and so proud. The ing they would be proven wrong. Last which was promptly shouldered off by second generation of rewilded South week, when we sighted Madonna’s two Hulooo. Not taking the cue, she went in China tigers in South Africa have now babies, I took it for granted that she had front of him, lying down, crouching in the embarked on their journey to procreate just two cubs, for yet another time. It was lordosis position to indicate her invitation and maybe soon we will have third gener- a bit disappointing, but, hey, we got two to mate. I was excited to see that. Wow! ation South China tigers in South Africa! more babies and offspring from “327,” Is she coming into estrus? It was quite Fingers crossed. However, now that my who, unfortunately, passed away in Sep- possible, as she is now a bit over three one worry about their ability to mate is tember. years old. Her mother Madonna and Aunt gone, the next one about their level of fer- It was the two-month birthday of Cathay, however, all sprayed profusely tility has crept into my conscious. Madonna’s babies today. I was checking before they began their breeding career, to see if Huwaa had eaten her first kill and Princess had not been observed to December 9, 2011 during today’s afternoon monitoring ses- demonstrate such behavior. Perhaps I was 327’s Baby Miracle sion. Having no luck in finding where she being too optimistic? Tiger keeper Vivi- Well, I judged too soon. Over the had hidden her kill (Bless her!), I decided enne confirmed that she also had not years, there had been all kinds of com- to drive down to the same spot where I noticed any spraying. Perhaps I read into ments and predictions either about the saw Madonna’s two cubs last week. it too much? Perhaps neither she nor South China tigers or on our tiger rewild- Huwaa followed our vehicle over and Hulooo are actually mature? ing project. Comments even by respected encountered Madonna pacing along the However, in the afternoon monitoring professionals concluded that “327” might fence on the other side. She seemed much session, just while my attention and my have trouble breeding, not just because he more relaxed now seeing Huwaa, unlike a visitors’ attention was focused on the had a single testicle, but also because his few months ago when she treated Huwaa lovely Cathay family, I suddenly saw, in lower back did not develop well and he with hatred. She even replied to Huwaa’s the distance, Hulooo mounting Princess! I may have trouble inserting his sperm signature chuffs a couple of times. I was could not believe my eyes and certainly properly into a female. I could only wondering if Madonna’s cubs were in the could not contain my excitement! Is this assume this deformity was caused by same spot in the dense thicket inside the for real? But all looked real with the roar being in a cage during the early part of his river when I noticed that Huwaa’s atten- that followed after mating and the life. He was a big fellow and had no tion was entirely drawn by something attempted slapping of Hulooo by Princess. opportunities to run or exercise. down there. The cubs must have been A second mating followed only two We always had just one or two cubs in a there! Huwaa tried to find ways to get minutes later, confirming everything we litter for the past few years and I almost closer to the fence for a better look or to saw. Within 30 minutes, we witnessed began to believe that some of these com- get over to the other side of the fence, but them mating five times. The there was no way due to the elec- usually shy Princess changed tric wires. She had to resign her- from a timid cat to a bold pur- self to sitting next to the fence suer of love and followed and watching. It was truly amaz- Hulooo wherever he went. At ing that Huwaa could see someone point, Hulooo’s attention thing, since I could not detect the was completely taken up by slightest movement of any grass Cathay’s babies next door, so he or tree branches through my would not respond to Princess’ binoculars. invitation. Or perhaps they had After some pacing, Madonna been at it for the whole day and went back toward the river, albeit he felt like a rest? But that did hesitantly. I was sure she did not not stop her. want to reveal the position of her So this is happening! This is babies, but she could not do much for real! I had underestimated about either our vehicle or Hulooo and had thought that, Huwaa, who betrayed the loca- being a hand-reared tiger, he tion of her babies. I was wonder- was too bonded to humans to ing if Huwaa’s infectious chuff take an interest in the finer sex. would flush out the cubs when, But I was wrong. Hulooo cer- out of the river thicket, there tainly demonstrated that he is a emerged a tiny tiger head. natural at this! However, unlike Madonna went over to the cub, his mom and dad, who had a chuffing gently and licking its romantic courtship due to their head. “Looks like a boy,” Vivi- intimate relationship prior to Princess gives Hulooo a piece of her mind after one enne said, “The head is kind of maturity, Hulooo and Princess’s of many preliminary couplings between the two broad.” My heart sank and I did mating was strictly business. young South China tigers. Photo by Lynn Culver. not want to believe her. I quick- And, at times, Hulooo appeared ly took out my video camera and

29 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 started recording this out into the open on the rare sight. The fence other side of the river- was in between, but I bank. “She has three,” was hopeful we might Vivienne said in aston- be able to see the gen- ishment. “What?!” I der of the cub through snatched my binoculars the magnifying func- back from her and start- tion. ed looking through I played the video them in great excite- back then and there, ment. “Three?!” But I magnifying the image could only see two several fold. “Looks cubs. “Perhaps I was like a girl, now,” Vivi- imagining things?” enne said. “Are you Vivienne said in her sure?” I asked, hoping usual humorous, but it to be true. I played even-toned, voice. I the video back a few passed my binoculars more times and it was back to her to double clear that we were check, disappointed but looking at a girl. I was Madonna, the matriarch of Laohu Valley, has proven to be a very fer- taking it for granted. “It elated. tile, successful part of Li Quan’s rewilding efforts. Her most recent is three,” Vivienne con- While we were cele- offspring are doubly important in also possessing the genes of their firmed, “I thought I was brating this fact, father, 327. imagining things.” I Madonna headed back deep into the river Then, loud sounds were heard as if looked once more into my binoculars and thicket, followed by her wobbling little someone was crunching on bones. Per- could not be any happier as I saw three cub. It was hard to see through the thick- haps she started feeding? While I was cute, tiny, stripy cubs frolicking in the et, but I could hear her chuffing, perhaps looking at the video image of her baby grass and around mommy Madonna. making connections to her other cub who daughter for the umpteenth time in pride And, “327,” you left a great legacy! had been calling to her quietly. and happiness, Madonna led her babies

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30 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Unnecessary Love By Bart Culver essential gene pools. When people see the were Rowdy and Sugar. When we looked capacity for the unnecessary love these in the den box, there was a second kitten. Ever since the Roman Coliseum, peo- animals possess, it becomes impossible to Somehow, those kittens had eluded our ple have been entertained by watching regard them as unfeeling, killing machines detection and Sweetie, a generally ner- other people get mauled by animals. that deserve to be killed or have their vous and incompetent mother, had kept “Fatal Attractions” capitalizes on this very homes destroyed whenever a corporation them healthy for five weeks. For three of cleverly. While you watch a spectacle decides to mine them. It also becomes those weeks, they were in a little nest she sure to make a lasting impression, an omi- impossible to argue that they cannot be had made in the exercise area in a clump nous, condescending voice intones the happy in captivity. It is extremely unfor- of sausa palmatta, and Rowdy and Sugar newest AR (Animal Rights) propaganda, tunate that these realizations run counter had access to them during that time. that loving animals you cannot dominate to the true purpose of so many state regu- We were amazed, and we had a prob- is pathology. Mind you, she is not talking latory agencies. The very names, Fish and lem. These kittens had their eyes open; about collectors or abusers; it is love itself Game Commission, Department of Natur- they knew we took them from their moth- that she defines as delusional - as insane. al Resources, reveal a purpose of er. Even though we brought them inside The announcer needs no credentials to exploitation, not protection. Their fund- our home and Lynn bottle-fed them, they persuade the ignorant. After all, “sane” ing comes from selling licenses to kill were not buying our claims that we were people do not need experience to be cer- these creatures and they manage the popu- their aunt or uncle or any relations of tain that animals cannot love. And our lation to be harvested. A new paradigm is theirs. One of them eventually left for his experience is irrelevant because, of a challenge to their wisdom and a threat to new home at the Houston Zoo. The other course, we are insane. And insane people their power. The sophistry of “Fatal remained here and we called him Grumpy. need to have their rights taken away for Attractions” serves to form an unholy He is a four-legger and he only likes four- their own good. That is their story. It is a alliance between exploitative authorities leggers. When it was time for him to political horror story. We have many and hands-off AR fanatics – an alliance move outdoors, we gave him an outdoor more and much better stories. Stories that against those who give the love of atten- enclosure connected to our bedroom win- do not appeal to ignorance, hysteria, or dance. dow by a long tunnel. He cohabitated morbidity… love stories. We have the “in(cat)venient truth” that with his best buddy Panther, a melanistic Experienced exotic animal owners are both these extremist groups want to sup- Geoffroy’s cat. Panther loved to come in not disillusioned by AR propaganda, press for their own selfish ends. We have and visit us, but Grumpy never would. He because, unlike the propagandists, we to let the beauty of our truth outshine their waited just outside our bedroom window have no delusions. Our experience has simplistic lies. We have to counteract for Panther to come back and join him. revealed that these animals have a capaci- their horror stories by telling our love sto- When Panther finally went to his new ty for love that far exceeds its utility for ries, not just to each other, but also to the home, we thought Grumpy might break survival in nature. In nature, mothers love world. Here are a couple of love stories: down from loneliness. No way. their babies and vice versa to motivate and Caracal Love He hissed every time we came near facilitate nurturing and protection of the We observed Rowdy caracal breeding him. We even tried moving another visit- young until they can fend for themselves. Sweetie caracal and recorded the expected ing female caracal into his enclosure, but The more intelligent and socialized a due date for kittens. Weeks before the due the pair did not form a bond. We decided species is, the more the young have to date, we confined Sweetie in the birthing that perhaps he would appreciate a quieter learn and the longer parental love persists. cage so I could make sure she ate the extra location, so we moved him to a more But nature, a hard and efficient mistress, food she needed. We had a video camera remote enclosure. requires that devotion to end as soon as its looking into her den box. The due date A week after the move, Grumpy pulled utility ends, to maximize the production of came and went and all we saw on the a disappearing act. I went to feed him and viable offspring. It is always the mother video was straw, no kittens. Ten days past he was not there. I am still not sure how who terminates the maternal bond. Her the due date, we decided it must have he got out. He must have positioned the return to estrus causes powerful hormones been a false pregnancy; she did not even sliding feeding pan just in the middle of to ebb and flow, literally changing her look pregnant any more. Feeling sorry for the feeding port and carefully laid in the mind. We have observed that, for the Sweetie, who had been cooped up for pan and squeezed through the feeding port young, rejection by the mother is a bitter, weeks, I let her into the exercise area with opening. To do that, he had to be quite a painful, and frightening experience. In Rowdy and Sugar, another female caracal. contortionist, very smart, and very deter- captive husbandry of wild cats, the human I fetched the poop scooper and went in to mined. We searched everywhere to no surrogate mother simply does not break clean her cage; I checked her den box avail. I knew Grumpy had no love for us the bond that the young do not want bro- with a flashlight, but saw no babies. and he had attained his freedom. He ken. And that bond persists, usually for Three and a half weeks later, Lynn would not come back. How can this be a the life of the cat, through its maturity and heard a high-pitched caracal trill like a kit- love story? Because there do not have to the rearing of its own offspring. This is ten makes and saw Sweetie carrying a be humans in a love story. Because of how captive husbandry works and this is large kitten in her mouth, walking from where we found Grumpy. why such husbandry has conservation the exercise area and back into her I was making the rounds feeding the value even beyond the perpetuation of birthing cage. Trotting along behind her cats. I called Sweetie out of the exercise

31 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 area into one of the caracal enclosures. She came trotting happily to me as usual… and proudly trotting behind her was Grumpy. We could not find him because we were looking outside the cages. And Grumpy, having attained his freedom, had done the most unbelievable thing. Grumpy, the caracal that had nothing but hisses for us, had a heart bursting with love for his mother. In the time between his birth and his disappearance, his mother had birthed two other litters. But all that time, he pined for her. And the moment he got his freedom, he went directly to her, to the very spot she nursed him, and traded up his freedom for the love of her. He knew when he scaled that twelve-foot fence, walked out that three- foot recurve, and jumped down into that exercise area that he could not get back out. And he has not even tried. And, he has stopped hissing at us. And, I have seen Sweetie kiss him, and he sees Sweet- Bart Culver gets his hair "do" from two bobcat beauticians, Bobby Woo ie kiss me, and it is going to be all right and Daisy, at the Arkansas Native Plant and Wildlife Center. Photo by now. Grumpy is the son of Rowdy and Eden Tran. Sweetie, and he is full of love. An unnec- admit that it is undeserved. And it is mals, you simply add more species and essary love, more love than he would need unnatural. Because, in nature, it is down- breeds to the list, until the remaining pet in nature, enough love to make him happy right unnecessary. But you know, we do owners and conservation breeders are iso- in captivity. not live in nature anymore; most wild ani- lated, outnumbered, and outvoted. Bobcat Love mals are not living in nature anymore. Because AR fanatics believe that autono- Three and a half years ago, Bobby And that surplus, superfluous, excessive, my is the only just situation for all sen- Woo, male bobcat, and Jewel, female bob- unnecessary capacity for love has become tient beings, they must deny the possibili- cat, were born here and became bonded to the hope for their survival. It is powerful. ty of benevolent captivity, or happy cap- us before we could find adequate homes It is irresistible. It must be requited. It tivity. for them. When they were eight months resonates with a part of humans that exist- I would like to engage these pseudo- old, we donated them to the Arkansas ed before greed and guilt, and even before philosophers in a little dialectic. You have Native Plant and Wildlife Center, where language. Humans fully charged with this a two year old child in a two-story house; we could visit them frequently. But the unnecessary love are exactly what four- do you put baby gates on the stairs? Yes. center is open only on weekends and fate leggers need to survive in a time when Have you deprived a sentient being of its has conspired to make our visits shame- hands-off is no longer enough. autonomy? Yes. Why do you do this? fully infrequent. I would say on average Every time AR fanatics with their Because you love your child. But with we see them every six weeks. We have hypothetical love of hypothetical animals animals it is different. To prevent anyone not fed them for nearly three years, they denigrate my genuine love of real animals, from ever abusing any animal, your are a breeding pair, and they are unfriend- I am outraged. Their objective is the total dogma requires that they never be con- ly to anyone entering their cage but us. elimination of all forms of captivity of any fined, even to protect them. As long as Every time we go to see them, I won- species and they will use any expedient to individual humans cannot confine ani- der if this will be the time we are also not get there. Their assertion that captivity is mals, you are content to leave them to welcomed. And every time, the same inherently cruel derives from a history their fate, even a cruel fate inflicted by thing happens. On the path to their cage where most husbandry has been exploita- cumulative humanity. Why the discrepan- there is a little wooden bridge, and when tive, often painful, and usually fatal. If cy? Because you cannot conceive of lov- they hear our footsteps on that bridge, cruelty was profitable, it was part of the ing an animal as much as you love your before they can even see us, they start run- intent. Pethood and conservation breed- own child. But there are people whose ning around and begin “wooing” to us. ing, where the intent is beneficent, are love of animals is greater than yours, And then they climb all over us, purring gigantic bumps in the long road from because it came not from hypothesis, but and rubbing, and give my hair a spiked Peter Singer to Ingrid Newkirk. from real animals with names, faces, and “do” by drooling and plucking it with the To attack pet ownership, you start with personalities. Their love of their animals demeanor of an artist. It is a process I call exotic pets, where you can foment hysteri- is like your love of your child. If you can- “sliming.” When Bobby Woo and Jewel cal fear and create species phobias. Once not believe this, you are not a fit guardian. are sliming me, I always think, “What did you establish the legal precept that captiv- So stand aside and make way for the I do to deserve this?” Because I love to be ity is cruelty for a long list of wild ani- greater love. slimed. It is the purest bobcat love and I 32 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Mala Mala 2011 in Review By Tawny Antle A little further down the road, we passed a blue wilde- My name is Tawny Sky beest relaxing in the field, and Antle; I’m the 17 year old then found the large carcass of daughter of Doc Antle, the another wildebeest. We drove founder and director of for a bit longer and came upon T.I.G.E.R.S and the RSF four lionesses and their five (Rare Species Fund) conser- cubs; this group is known as vation group. As you may the Styx Pride. The sun was expect, I have lived around still up when we found them exotic animals of all sizes and they were all fast asleep, since the day I was born. I but they slowly started to open shared my crib with baby their eyes, stretch, and look tiger cubs and was rocked to around. They were magnifi- sleep in my mother’s arms cent; it was hard to believe while riding on the back of an that you could not walk right elephant. Today, I still live up to those cubs. The and work with over 100 dif- youngest one started to get ferent animals from baby feisty; as all young lions do, tigers to ligers. They are my The Styx pride of lion cubs puts on a show for us. he started to bite and tug on life and I would not want it his mother’s paw. This little any other way. boy only about three months In November 2011, I had the opportuni- drive to the reserve and we had already old, but still decided to join two of the ty to visit Mala Mala, a privately owned seen a large group of impala. When we older cubs for a play session. The sun game reserve in South Africa. I, my arrived, we were introduced to our was setting as all three returned to one of father, and a few other family members rangers, shown to our rooms, and then a the mothers for a drink. It was incredible stayed for eight days and were able to go delicious lunch was served. After lunch, to see all of those babies nursing from the on two safaris every day. The commuter it was time for our first game drive, so we same lioness. I couldn’t believe how flight into Mala Mala was exciting on its all prepared our cameras and set out for an much we had already seen and was very own. The moment I saw the land trans- adventure. excited for the next day. form from cities, homes, crops, and farm- Less than 15 minutes passed before we The next morning, we were up by land into the private bushveld, a smile saw two mother baboons with their three 6:00am. We had some coffee and then set exploded onto my face. Just a ten-minute youngsters sitting high up in a tree. A few out for another adventure. At first we saw minutes later, we turned the corner and some female kudu and then came across a there he was, a single bull elephant about crash of rhino, with two large males ten feet tall! At first, he had a defensive charging and fighting each other. A little stance; it took him a moment to relax and further down the road were a mother rhino then he decided to take a few curious and her baby grazing through the grass. steps towards us. He was so incredible, We drove across a bridge and were tears built up in my eyes; I couldn’t imag- lucky enough to come across an enormous ine a world without these amazing ani- herd of elephants with several babies. mals. I could have stayed and watched While watching part of the herd on our him for an hour, but there was still so right, a large female with her baby came much to see, so we moved on. charging out on our left. All of the moth- Moments down the road and we came ers were very protective of their young. It across about nine rhinos; they were all was incredible to watch them, because females with one baby. Our ranger, they all had very individual personalities. Matthew, noticed a lion taking a nap in the Matthew got a call from one of the tall grass; we pulled into the bush to get a other rangers who had sighted cheetahs in better look. He was a large male known the area, so we left the herd and headed as Dark Mane, and his name fit him well; towards the cats. On the way, we stopped I had never seen a lion with so much to watch two large male impala fighting black trimming on his mane. This stun- amongst a group of females. The accura- ning boy is one of the Manyeleti males, cy they had with their horns amazed me. the four territorial lions seen at Mala A few minutes later, we found two brother Mala. It was amazing how close we were cheetahs sleeping under a tree together. One of my first sights at Mala Mala, able to get to him; I couldn’t wait to see They were beautiful, but not very active; an incredible bull elephant. what was next. we snapped a few photos and then let

33 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 tree to climb, then immediately began to consume his meal. The female patiently waited on the ground for him until he was done. We then headed back to the reserve to enjoy a meal of our own. The sun was shining bright as we set out for our next morning safari. We saw our first “dazzle” of zebra, one of the females pregnant and another one protecting her newborn son. A short distance down the road, a young male leopard sun- bathed on a high rock formation. Matthew suddenly mentioned that it was time for breakfast! On the way back, we stopped to watch a herd of elephants that were taking a dirt bath under a tree. There was a tiny baby who was very brave and kept raising his trunk towards us; his mother was spraying dirt on to her back and accidently knocked the little one with her foot and he tumbled onto his A visiting bushbuck kneels down to drink from the pool while China and side. He immediately stood back up and Amy York, and Tawny and her boyfriend, Anthony, swim. looked at us as if he were embarrassed. We were very surprised when Matthew them enjoy their nap in the shade. We ahold of the impala head and ran off to the stopped a little further down the road and were lucky enough to see the brothers side to enjoy it. He seemed very proud led us to an elegant table outside. The again a few days layer. This time they and acted as if he had gotten the best part. other rangers were preparing a hot break- were up and walking around. We noticed As our evening drive came to an end, fast for us. As we enjoyed our meal, that one of them was limping on an we watched a young, but dominant, male beautiful birds flew through the trees and injured back leg. They stayed very close leopard and an older female walking young impala grazed the grass. It was a together for protection. together. We followed them for a while, unique experience in a very beautiful The group returned to the reserve base until Matthew suggested that we turn the place. for some refreshments and an afternoon headlights off; literally seconds later, he After breakfast, Matthew gave us a swim. During our swim, a few bushbuck turned the lights back on and the male had choice to either go see two leopard cubs passed by. One of the young males cau- made his kill. He dragged the young or head back to the reserve to relax. We tiously walked towards the water, so we impala a long way before deciding what chose to go find the cubs. After driving stayed very silent as he knelt down and drank. When I returned to my room, I noticed baboons playing outside, pulling large pods off of a sausage tree and then tossing them back and forth. I went outside onto my porch to watch. It was as if they were playing a game of “keep away!” At the beginning of our evening safari, we helped clear the runway for an incom- ing plane. There were several rhinos blocking the landing strip, so we assisted by moving them aside with our jeep. The dominant male of the group did not want to move at first, but shortly after the runway was clear, the plane came in for a smooth landing. Matthew got a call from one of the other rangers, who said they had just witnessed a pack of wild dogs kill a baby impala. We headed towards the kill site. As we arrived, the group was fighting over different body parts. It was comical to watch them chase each other, trying to steal the prize. Finally, one of them got One of the wild dogs licks his chops after feasting on baby impala.

34 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 for a while, we arrived at the area where animals were still they had been spotted. It was a brother hiding from the and sister, about five months old, playing bad weather, but on top of a large rock together. The we did get to see female noticed us and jumped down to get a large selection a closer look, while the male stayed on the of birds, one of rock. After a few minutes of exploring, my favorites the female returned to her brother and they being the tawny both set off for new adventures. eagle. My par- That evening, we crossed paths with a ents had a tawny new lion pride known as the Four-Ways eagle when I was Pride, which were all fast asleep by a born and that is watering hole. At first we thought one of where my name, the females was pregnant, but then noticed “Tawny Sky,” that all of them had very full bellies; they originates from. must have had a successful kill. About As things started to dry up, we came A dazzle of zebras makes a striking appearance. across two lions, a male leopard was still there guarding what was and a female walking down the road left. He had dragged the carcass into the together. They danced around each bushes to keep it slightly more hidden. other and then, after a few minutes, Usually, a leopard will drag its kill up a began to mate. The male was very tree, but this half-eaten kudu was still too dominant; he is known as Three- heavy. It amazed me that his meal was Tooth and belongs to the group of not taken from him by a larger predator Manyeleti males. during the night. Later in the day, we came upon a I had so many unique experiences dur- large dead kudu female that a male ing my trip that I could not even began to leopard had taken down; she looked cover them all in this article. Although I untouched from the front, but, when have visited other game reserves and have we drove around the back, her stom- lived around lions, leopards, elephants, ach was revealed. We noticed the and more throughout my life, Mala Mala leopard hiding in the grass, watching was unlike anything I have ever experi- us as we observed his kill. It was enced. It was breathtaking to see one of quite gory and very smelly, but it was the last wild populations of animals so up- incredible to think that a leopard had close and personal. It exceeded my Male leopard cub watches us from atop taken out such a large animal. expectations and I cannot wait for the the safety of a boulder. The following morning, Matthew opportunity to return. took us back to the kill site and the ten minutes down the road, we saw a clan of four round-bellied hyenas that looked as if they had shared the lions’ meal. As we drove back to the reserve for dinner that night, we noticed a serval walking in the distance. Matthew told us we were very lucky to get a glimpse of this beautiful animal, because they are usually afraid and flee when they hear a vehicle coming. Surprisingly, the serval continued towards us and stopped in our headlights. I was able to capture a few photos before he ran off. Not all of the days were perfect and sunny. One of the mornings was quite rainy, so we waited till after breakfast The Four-Ways pride had recently feasted and were so stuffed all they could until things cleared up. Most of the do was sleep.

35 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Build a Better Birthing House: Making a Dog House into a climate-Controlled Birthiing Box

stepping on her kittens. If the box is too big, it does not retain heat well enough in the winter. This year we have made a new box that we really like so far. Some of our males have ASL Solutions Dog Palace Insulated Dog Houses. These houses are super insulated, very durable, and easy to clean. The inside dimensions are 30.5"H x 24"W x 35.5" L. The door is an easy to pass through, self-closing door, and the floor is raised four inches to provide a dry and warm bedding area. The floor is Hound heater unit is pet safe and also sloped and has a drain fire safe, and keeps the house hole to make cleaning a warm, even on the coldest Missouri breeze; just hose it down and winter nights. the water runs out. You can even get solar- sliding lockable pet door kit to seal it off. powered exhaust fans and fit- I am sure there is an easier and cheaper The self-closing door on this dog house is just ted heating pads for them. We way to do this, but neither Scott nor I are the right size for one of Teresa’s servals. have been so pleased with very good at constructing things. Scott caulked the edges of the cut line with By Teresa Shaffer these insulated doghouses that Scott decided to try turning one into a sealant, as the small insulation pellets birthing box. They cost around $230.00 were coming out. He then hooked the We live in Missouri, and although we front of the house onto the outside of the try to avoid breeding for winter kittens, each for the large size we have to be prepared. Here in the Mid- at Orschelns, and you west, we have temperatures down to zero can find them for only and up to 110 degrees. It can be 20 $166.00 at Sam’s degrees one day, then 70 degrees the next, Club. so it is very difficult to plan ahead. We did not want to Over the years we have tried many try it and ruin one, so birthing boxes. We have had boxes that we waited until we are too small, and ones that are too big. found a used one on We have found there is a fine line between Craigslist and bought these. If the box is too small, you have it for $75.00. Scott cut the danger of the momma cat lying or a hole in the side and hooked up a small

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36 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012

Another view of the lockable pet door from the inside of the birthing box, which can be lined with hay or other soft material. chain-link enclosure after cutting a hole in between) around the hole in the the fence the size of the entrance opening. chain-link and then attached the You could also put the house inside the house to this. Then he made a enclosure, but we have a secure five foot wood slide board you can push wide hallway off the backside of the through and block the entrance; enclosure, so that is where we felt it you can use one slide board for should go. This works well in our opin- several houses. ion, as you do not have to enter the cat’s So far, we are very happy with enclosure to check on kittens. You can this design and the cats seem to just go into the hallway and open the slide really enjoy their new homes! door on the side of the house and peek in, Actually, with the cold weather or even reach in to pull kittens. We like to we are having, the cats don’t In the insulated birthing box, mama caracal be able to lock the momma cats out to want to come out of their nice can be warm and comfortable, even in the check or pull the kittens, so Scott put two warm house… unless its food middle of winter. 2x4 frames (with a 1x2 wedge in- time, of course!

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37 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 “We Bought a Zoo: A True Zoo Story” Reviewed by Fred Hood trays a small, privately owned zoo in Anyone involved in captive wildlife a positive light. management will likely be intrigued by Those of you who the new film We Bought a Zoo. I saw it have had challenges on Christmas afternoon with a group of with USDA inspec- friends, only one of which is a zoo volun- tions may also be teer like me. The film is loosely based on amused by the por- a book of the same title, which is a true trayal of the USDA story and quite an enjoyable read. I say inspector, the only loosely because the real zoo (Dartmoor villain in the film. (I Zoological Park) is in England whereas doubt real USDA the one in the movie (Rosemoor Animal workers will be Park) is in an undescribed location in the amused, though). U.S. The actual movie set is a ranch in One major compo- Thousand Oaks, California. Reviews of nent is how the staff the film state that the film is set in south- deals with an elderly ern California, although there is no real and diseased tiger. It hint of a locale in the film itself. shows the staff Everyone in our group seemed to enjoy (especially Benjamin struggling with the decision of whether or it, even the non-zoo people. Part of its Mee) struggling to make him comfortable not it is time to euthanize the cat. I cannot appeal to a wider audience is that is as and take his medication. It also shows, in help but think this will give the public a much about the people as it is about build- a very emotional and real way, the staff deeper appreciation for the serious and ing a zoo. The buyer, Ben- heartbreaking decisions jamin Mee (played by Matt made by anyone involved in Damon but named after the captive wildlife manage- real buyer), has recently lost ment. his wife to cancer when the There is only one animal film opens. (In the real scene that is completely story, Mrs. Mee is part of the unrealistic - the one that decision to buy the zoo and involves snakes. Why do dies while they are rebuild- snakes always get a bad ing it). Much of the film rap? When you see the way centers on Benjamin and his the snakes were allegedly two children dealing with shipped to the zoo, you will the grief of losing the mother roll your eyes (or worse). in the family. This is not Anyone with even a passing apparent in the previews, knowledge of how modern which make it appear to be a zoos operate will see the lighthearted film about ani- absurdity in this. My only mals. Although the film has other criticism of the film, its funny moments, there is a besides the snake scene, is lot of drama and some seri- the occasional (very occa- ous issues on life and death sional) use of profanity. For are addressed. These are a movie that is rated PG important issues and they are (not PG-13) and promoted dealt with in an honest man- as a family film, I was not ner, so I think it is a good expecting it. I realize some aspect to the film. But view- people are not bothered by ers who are expecting a it and I am sure some of lighthearted comedy should you use strong language on be prepared for something a a daily basis. But for some- bit different. I would not one like me who does not, it recommend the film for seems unnecessary. In spite small children, under age of these two setbacks, over- seven or so. all the film is worthwhile Members of FCF will be and I think most FCF mem- pleased in the way it por- bers will find it enjoyable.

38 Ejggg[ZXi[dgNdjg :mdi^X8Vi

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Mazuri® Feline Feeds: Exotic Feline Large–5M53, Exotic Feline Small–5M54 Deanna Croasmun caught Chaos, the melanistic jungle cat, flying through the air. This Siberian Lynx looks like she is trying to tell someone to "STOP!" Unusual poses acquired by Bear Creek Feline Center intern, "Blue."

No need to see an eye doctor, those spots before your eyes are Aztec and Tia jaguars wrestle in the pool at Panther real. Julie Reid is raising these unrelated pairs for Julie's Jungle. Ridge Conservation Center. Photo by Yvonne Veety. Your Best Shots

Three adorable little fishing cat kittens born at Exotic Feline Breeding Com- Alexey Sharf took this photo of Lucky, the Asian pound, Chimlin, Devi, and Dara, stare right into Nancy Vandermey's camera. leopard cat, born earlier this year at his facility. Eden Tran took this photo of Chubbs, the bobcat, flying for That is an armful of spots! Kerry Ferguson holds her the fishing rod luer being dangled by her daughter Lena. serval female Sebeka. Photo by Christopher Fergu-

Max, the young cougar, visited Santa at the Humane Society Christmas party to tell him he has Mimi bobcat smiles for the camera. Photo been a good little puma this year and wants Santa to bring him lots of cat toys. Max is part of by her mom, Jessica Willoughby. Wildlife and Environmental Conservation's educational team, teaching children about cougars in California. Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Blast from the Past: Tuffy the Margay LIOC Endangered Species Conservation er; I was the source of the "tie Federation game." The "tie game" is simply May/June 1982 this: take that tie you got as a pre- Volume 26 Issue 3 sent and secretly hated, and move it along the floor like a snake. Even- In Memorium to a Grand Old Girl, Tuffy tually, some reaction will take place. The game turned out to be a nightly By Danny Treanor event and the event became a source of exercise for a badly overweight I hate death. Death makes me angry. female margay. Soon she was thin- With that, I wish to note the passing away ner, quicker, and more alert. of Tuffy Margay. Tuffy was soon to come face to Tuffy's exact age is a secret that Tuffy face with "The Critter." He was the never confirmed or denied, like most male, approximately two years old women. However, she appeared as a kit- at that time. Critter was a nice guy ten in 1964, from Colombia, South Ameri- and a snappy dresser, but a little stu- ca. She, at that time, arrived in New pid. Tuffy would come into heat, Orleans, at the home of Rick & Claire but all Critter would do was pull the LeBlanc. I am led to understand that hair from the top of her head. Tuffy spent her first years as a free house- Tuffy's way of letting a guy know hold margay and enjoyed interacting with she was "interested" was to "bull- her human providers. doze" into him with her head. Crit- The first time I saw Tuffy, I do not ter took another meaning from this begin to ignore them. When the kit readi- remember her making any undue impres- evidently. He was just too young to ly took a bottle we knew it was time to sion on me. In fact, the presence of a bob- understand why this other margay bottle-feed them. Tuffy always insisted cat that liked to "mark" strangers was the moaned, crawled low to the ground with that Shirley sit with her during labor; she center of attention that day. We were all her rear in the air, and kept running into even tolerated me with a movie camera on afraid of becoming the next "victim." him headfirst. It must have something to one occasion. She would let Shirley han- Besides, we had a new male margay to do with her head, so he did what he could dle the kitten and move her around to pay attention to and keep out of mischief. by relieving her of the fur and making her allow the kitten to nurse. But when left Time passed and on the occasion of the bald. alone, she would curl into a ball and hide first LIOC convention, that time in Dallas, What a loose woman was this margay! the "faucets." We would be awakened to a a conversation with the LeBlancs brought As I said before, she had been with males loudly bawling kitten and looks from to light that Tuffy was available for breed- before, but nothing had happened. So Tuffy as if to say, "Can't you shut the kid ing purposes. Her past history was not why this immature, domestic-raised, naive up?" She became cranky and would even- encouraging, nor was her age. Although male with the stupid name of Critter? tually snap when you tried to put the kitten she had been housed with a male, recently Who knows, women are like that. to a nipple, unlike her normally easygoing deceased, they had never produced. Even Critter finally figured it out and the very self. She looked so relieved when you though Critter was at that time too young, first mating resulted in a kitten. Unfortu- removed them, and she quickly reverted to we agreed to take her, feeling that the real nately, it was stillborn. After a decent her former cheerful attitude. After all, reason for the offer might be other than interval, another arrived. Tuffy did her those little things did nothing but snuggle presented - the unloading of a burden. For part, but during labor pulled hair out of and cry. whatever reason, Tuffy Leblanc became her haunches. I had never seen this before In trying to plan for the future, I decid- Tuffy Treanor, duly delivered by Harriet (or a birth of any kind for that matter) and ed to keep one of the kittens. Tuffy was Leake. thought it odd. When I peeked in and saw not getting any younger and there were Tuffy had been housed outdoors and Tuffy with the kitten between her paws, not too many of us breeding margays. now she was housed indoors adjacent to moving as if she was pulling fur from the Phase II of our story begins. This is another margay. Try as I did to make kit, I panicked and, not waiting for Shirley where TV would insert a commercial, so friends, she did not like men; she was a to come home, ran into the cage and "res- stop and go to the refrigerator or bathroom ladies’ cat. Shirley would sit on the floor cued" the kitten. Later, I learned that if you wish. to find herself with a lap full of margay. some females pull fur to line the nest and In January of 1978, I relocated to Orlan- And Tuffy was a lap full. She (Tuffy - "strip" their stomach to make the nipples do, Florida, and brought three margays come to think of it, Shirley, too) tended to more available to the kit. However, my with me; Tuffy, Critter, and their daughter, be chubby. She was a short, chunky cat, reaction had broken the maternal chain. Sundae. Relocation brought problems, a very unlike the lean, lithe Critter. From Tuffy would have six more kittens over townhouse with no room for cages and a the length of the tail however, there was the years and never take care of them. lease that prohibited it. The girls were no doubt that she was, in fact, a margay. I They were all hand-raised. Tuffy liked to okay, but the male wanted to set up territo- did serve a purpose in Tuffy's life, howev- make them, but after a day or so would

42 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 ry. He quickly took a vacation to Ft. In July of 1982, Lauderdale, and the Hatfields', until this Tuffy went off her human could provide better. Tuffy and feed; not even caring Sundae were fine, loving the high places for treats like chicken on the stairwell and wall-to-wall carpet- hearts, which she nor- ing. mally craved. Her In the 11 years that I shared my life stools changed, possi- with Tuffy, she never really cared for me - bly due to the lack of after the move to Orlando, even the occa- solid food intake. sional scratching under the chin was Concerned, I took her denied me. I thought she generally dis- to the vet. A blood liked men. But my soon-acquired room- sample was taken and mate got along with Tuffy very well and her white cell count the ladies I dated got to know Tuffy, also. was almost non-exis- When I decided to remarry, it was very tent. Anti¬biotics and decided to give a blood transfusion from important to me that the lady accept my B-complex shots were given, and she her daughter, Sundae. Another blood test cats. Maybe I should have checked with seemed to pick up a little after eating showed the white cells were in¬creasing, Tuffy to see whom she preferred, but this some raw egg yolks. After four days, she but the red cells were down. Before we did not turn out to be a problem. Ellen seemed unable to move without exhaust- gave the transfusion, we x-rayed her for a and Tuffy soon became close friends and ing herself in two or three steps. In des- possible blockage. She had not been Ellen claimed Tuffy as her margay. per¬ation, with the advice of the vet, I given any anesthetic because of her weak- ened state. While we positioned her for the x-ray, she suffered cardiac arrest but was revived. When we attempted to give her fluids by vein, she arrested again, and this time we could not revive her. It is a hard way to lose a longtime friend, and I do mean friend. Tuffy was the most unassuming and non-aggressive margay I have ever met. I see her style daily in her daughter, and I thank Heaven she gave me eight kittens, even one of them still with me to give each day purpose.

Postscript from Shirley Wagner, then LIOC editor: As most of you know, Tuffy spent many years of her life with me, also. Although she and Danny were not as close as she and I were, there is little I can add to the above. Tuffy was a truly dignified spirit, always her own cat. This made the concessions she made to those she loved that much dearer. She gave her affection or withheld it at her will, but never ungra- ciously. When she moved to Orlando, with Danny, it left a void in my life, but knowing she was there was some comfort. Even after five years, years when a visit to Orlando resulted in the same reaction, an empty lap was soon filled by Tuffy, a chin was offered for scratching. The news of her departure brings pain and, as I type this, tears; she was a grand lady and hope- fully, someday, through her daughter’s grand-kittens (are you listening, Danny?), she will continue. Shirley

43 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 Remembering Shirley Wagner By Danny Treanor importers of cats, which was not illegal at that time. On December 6th, 2011, private exotic In fact, you could obtain a cat owners all over the world lost one of kit for as little as $50 with their most ardent and vocal advocates freight and customs includ- when Shirley Wagner lost her battle with ed. cancer. She was on the Board of Directors The first ocelot was Pi and served as editor for over 30 years of Beset. Shirley picked the the LIOC Endangered Species Conserva- name of one of the obscure tion Federation Newsletter (now known as Egyptian Gods for her cat’s the Feline Conservation Federation). name. In the future, there Shirley was a recognized expert in the would be margays, oncil- husbandry, breeding and neonatal care of las, cougars and more small, exotic felines and was recognized ocelots in her life, along in Murray Fowler's "Zoo medicine" for with the occasional domes- her contributions in the field. A devoted tic cat, too. animal advocate, she testified before vari- Before there were con- ous committees in Montgomery in support ventions, there were annual of responsible animal legislation. picnics in Catherine Cisin’s Some longtime members will remem- backyard. Such fun and Shirley Wagner handled the ceremonial awarding ber Shirley from when she served as edi- camaraderie occurred that of the coveted Lotty statue to the organization's tor of the newsletter for LIOC’s newsletter Dr. Roger Harmon suggest- most outstanding individual. Photo from in the 1970s. Shirley was the one who ed having a bigger picnic, archives of Lynn Culver. directly followed Catherine Cisin, the but instead of the backyard, founder of LIOC, as the editor. She was move it to Texas, and have it for two days. ernment restrictions and regulations handpicked by Catherine, since Shirley More time to mingle and swap stories. changed, so did LIOC, bringing about the embraced the ideas and direction that Sharing experience and knowledge has need to organize, create structure, and Catherine wanted the Long Island Ocelot always been the mission of LIOC. direct. When Catherine turned the editor- Club to go. For the 10 years from 1968 to 1978, ship over to Shirley, she was happy to just But Shirley’s story actually begins cats with names of Meewa, Bounce, be editor, but the need for spokesperson around 1966 when she heard a rumor that ChrisAnne, Kelly, Tina, Tuffy, Critter, and president was evident as involvement a dime store over in Ft. Walton Beach, had Sundae, Sir, Malady, and a couple of with government officials increased. Ken an ocelot for sale for around $50. Shirley domestics named Gray Puss and Jude Hatfield, known for his help to other exot- drove to the area, but the cat had already would share Shirley’s life. ic owners, and as a recognized breeder been sold, but Shirley was determined to Shirley had lived in Mobile, Alabama, with business experience, became presi- find out more, and where, and how. since 1966, and as you might guess, dent. Shirley did not want to be in the She began researching in the local Mobile is not the center of exotic cat public eye and preferred to be in the back- library. There were no computers at this activity, but is about half way between ground. time, so newspapers and magazine articles Florida and Texas allowing Shirley to The lifeline of LIOC has always been were the only source of research, especial- attend the branch meetings in both states. the newsletter where people keep in touch, ly for current and recent events. Some- Often time, vacations were scheduled learn the latest on nutrition and medicine, where along the line, Shirley came across around branch meetings, in order to spend plus share each other’s joys and sorrows. an article about a woman who lived at the more time and visit with other members. Shirley excelled in this area. She laughed end of Long Island named Catherine Eventually the planning of vacations cen- and cried at everyone’s stories. She talked Cisin, who put out a newsletter for exotic tered on the conventions, and allowing for on the phone to anyone. She answered owners and had published a book called time to drive and visit. any and all correspondence. She sat at a “Especially Ocelots.” There was no Vacations also meant a lot of planning. typewriter for hours assembling the address in the article except for the name At one time, we had 11 cats in the house, newsletter by hand. Remember, this was of the town Amagansett. Shirley com- nine of which were exotics. There had to before computers when articles were posed a letter and took a chance of be a cat-sitter for the house while three typed and laid out on paper to be taken to addressing it to Catherine, c/o LIOC, cats traveled in the minivan. Many motel the printer. Additionally, there was keep- Amagansett, NY. Two things worked in rooms were repainted; shower curtains ing up with new members, change of Shirley’s favor. Catherine was a local replaced and lots of odd looks at rest addresses, renewal slips, and putting the well-known person and the town was stops. addresses on the envelopes. All done by small enough that everyone knew every- Conventions and branch meetings hand, by one person. (OK, I helped one. Contact was made and the story meant time to listen to the members, meet address the envelopes.) takes off from this point. new cats, and accumulate pictures for One story of Shirley that most do not Catherine gave Shirley some leads on future issues of the newsletters. As gov- know involves Bill Engler. For those who

44 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 do not know Bill Engler, I refer you to the gansett, New York, book Especially Ocelots by Catherine Shirley met, laughed, and Cisin. Bill wrote the medical section for cried with members who the book and, even though he was not a love exotics. veterinarian, most everyone called him Shirley and I met as “Doc.” In his later years, Bill became a teenagers when we were bit of a gypsy, moving from place to place still in high school, and with his menagerie of animals. Toward we were married at the the end of his travels, he decided to join ripe old age of 19 and 18. forces with Charles Douglas in Orlando, In fact, the day we were Florida. The only problem was, Bill was married, Shirley had to go living in Utah. Bill packed up his animals back to her parent’s house and belongings, but was one driver short because she had finals in for the trip. Shirley volunteered to be that school the next day. We driver. Bears, bobcats, and other critters were married for 14 years, were moving to Florida. Needless to say, until I took a job in Flori- overnight stays at the Ritz-Carlton were da and she stayed in During the 1991 LIOC Convention in San Antonio, out of the question. Shirley loved it and Alabama. Our days and Texas, Shirley and the young assistant draw the felt she was contributing to the welfare of nights were filled with winning raffle ticket for the Charles Frace signed the cats and to what LIOC was all about. raising, learning, and shar- Margay print. Jean Hatfield is pictured in front. From the most northern and western ing all we knew and part of Washington State, to the wine learned about exotic ownership. Remem- Shirley, you missed out on knowing an country of California, Big D (is this Dal- bering those times brings a smile and a original. For those of you who did know las??) , the Arizona desert, the mountains tug. We share a Lotty together. her, be assured that she cared. She cared in Colorado, Disney World, and Ama- For those of you who never met about you and your cat. She still does. Fourth Quarter Board of Directors Meeting Report

Minutes by Lynn Culver election is held. eral membership at any time during the 10.3 A lapse in membership 90 days (Jan- membership year. This fee entitles one or Meeting was held on the FCF Forums uary 1st) beyond the October 1st renewal both persons under that membership to from December 9 through December 18. date shall result in the late-renewing upgrade, provided they each independent- Board members Chambers, Perry, Delong, member’s join date being reset the actual ly meet the qualifications required for Antle, Shaffer, Johnson, and Callahan par- date of late renewal and being treated as a Professional membership. A Professional ticipated. The following motions and dis- new member for the purposes of making membership may be one Professional, two cussions were held during the meeting: motions and voting privileges. Professionals, or it can be one Profession- Moved by Teresa Shaffer, seconded by 10.4 An individual member may add or al member and a household co-member Kevin Chambers, that by-laws be amend- remove a second person living at the same who is a General member. Regardless of ed to reflect membership and voting address to their membership at any time. the combination, the upgrade of a General rights. Proposed are: Both members′ voting eligibility will be membership to Professional is $15. The 10.1 A Membership consists of either an determined by the join date of the primary renewal for a membership with at least individual, or two (2) people living at the member. one Professional in the shared member- same address. The two (2) people in a 6 yes votes, 0 no votes, motion passed. ship is the standard USA, Canada, or membership have complete and indepen- Moved by Rob Johnson, seconded by International dues, plus $25. dent voting privileges, once eligible, but Teresa Shaffer, to ratify the expenditure of 6 yes votes, 0 no votes, motion passed. they both must be registered on the FCF $1850 to Vocus PR Web, for an enhanced Moved by Teresa Shaffer, seconded by database to receive the dual voting privi- account, giving FCF two press releases Patty Perry, that the following FCF Policy leges. Memberships with one individual per month, for one year, beginning Octo- on Professional Members be adopted: will only have one (1) vote, once eligible. ber 1st, as well as other benefits. 1. A Professional member of the FCF is 10.2 To be eligible to make motions or 6 yes votes, 0 no votes, motion passed. someone who is substantially involved in vote on a Constitutional amendment, the Moved by Kevin Chambers, seconded the captive husbandry of wild felines and individual must have become a member of by Rob Johnson, to ratify the minutes of who operates with high standards of ani- the FCF prior to February 1st of the year the convention board meeting as present- mal care and facility management, and previous to the year during which the ed. who conducts their husbandry, business, motion is made and the vote is held. To 6 yes votes, 0 no votes. and public image in an ethical manner. be eligible to vote in the general election, Moved by Kevin Chambers, seconded Professional members will normally hold the individual must have become a mem- by Teresa Shaffer, that the fee for a Pro- a USDA license to engage in the breeding, ber of the FCF prior to October 1st of the fessional membership be a $15 non- brokering, sales, or exhibition of wild year previous to the year during which the refundable fee for the upgrade from gen- felines, or they may be employed or hold

45 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 56, Issue 1 • January/February 2012 substantial, but unpaid, positions at USDA Committee. Majesty Under the Big Top,” in response licensed, or non-profit wild feline facili- 5 yes votes, 0 no votes, motion passed. to HB 3359, that would prohibit traveling ties. Professional membership may also Moved by Pat Callahan, seconded by wildlife displays; and “There is NO Evi- be granted to those running non-profits, Kevin Chambers, to budget $2000 to the dence Tigers Have Ever Been Killed for substantial financial supporters, wildlife Conservation Grants Fund. Their Body Parts in America,” in response educators, veterinarians, researchers, and 6 yes votes, 0 no votes, motion passed. to New Jersey Bill 3661, requiring tigers conservationists. Professional members Discussion on CAPWIZ: Capwiz inte- to be micro-chipped, tracked, and institu- must support the goals and mission of the grates into a website seamlessly to create tionally cremated, to prevent illegal sales Feline Conservation Federation, which is a customizable legislative action center, of parts for Asian medicine. Responses to protect the rights of qualified individu- enabling CAPWIZ clients to mobilize have been generated from target emails, als to own and to pursue captive hus- stakeholders. Last year alone, Capwiz the CAPWIZ website, and Facebook pro- bandry of wild felines, and to preserve, delivered more than 25 million email mes- motion of these alerts. The current data- protect, and propagate wild feline popula- sages to federal and state elected officials. base receiving action alerts by email is tions in captivity and in nature. CAPWIZ features allow clients to: around 3,000 names. CAPWIZ respon- 2. To qualify for professional member- • Easily create custom action alerts that ders can sign up for future alerts, increas- ship, the member must: a) have registered can be posted to a website regarding bills, ing the database. FCF receives notice of their handling experience with the FCF votes, and issues. CAPWIZ delivers this each person that uses a CAPWIZ alert, Registered Handler Program; b) register information faster than other companies. including name and contact information. their wildcats with the FCF Feline Census, • Send targeted emails to stakeholders. With the legislative season sure to have if they possess wild felines; c) have a • Run detailed reports on all grassroots ban bills introduced, this makes an easy signed copy of the Professional Code of activity. way for stakeholders to send emails to Conduct on file with the FCF; and d) pay The FCF board approved a three-month their legislators and the media. a $15 non-refundable fee at the time of trial participation in the pro-exotic animal Executive Director Lynn Culver provid- application and submit an application for ownership contract held by G.W. Exotics, ed the following update on the Feline Professional Membership Upgrade. The UAPPEAL, USZA, and Simian Society. Census project. FCF has the USDA FOIA completed application will contain a list FCF has generated three action alerts results, and about 15 states that allow pri- of licenses held and a statement by the using CAPWIZ; “Demand Money Raised vate ownership of native species, or states applicant outlining all of their qualifica- for Tony the Tiger Goes to his New that have permit systems in place for exot- tions as to what makes them a profession- Home!” written for G W Exotics Park and ic felines have responded to FOIA al. was a test use of the program, in response requests. Many states have no non-USDA 3. The Professional Member Committee, to Big Cat Rescue fundraising for Tony, a licensed ownership allowed, such as HI, consisting of five (5) Professional level tiger whose owner, Mike Sandlin, does AK, MA, CT, so the USDA response will members, will review the applications and not want BCR to receive and who has said be all inclusive; and some states allow grant or deny the upgrade in a reasonable will be given to G W Exotics; “Protect the small cats, but do not have a state permit amount of time using the system - like AL, or AR, so definition of a professional these states will not have member as found in the separate state tracking to Constitution and this policy. Books - Feeding Supplies - Gifts request. A simple majority of three Teresa Shaffer reported on (3) yes votes from the com- the FUR (Feline Urgent mittee is required to be Response) Team activities accepted as a Professional www.wxicof.com since the Ohio incident, member. which prompted members to 4. The results of Profession- step up and volunteer. Terri al Member Committee’s Werner has been made some vote will be recorded in the We Carry New In-Print & Hard-to-Find Out-Of-Print Books great suggestions. We are Administration section of gathering information on the website, but will not be behaviors, pictures, sound made public. √ Raising In Captivity √ In The Wild bites, and footprints of all 5. The members of the Pro- √ √ species. Teresa is still in fessional Member Commit- Husbandry Management need of these items and tee will serve two (2) year √ Identification Guides √ Reference Books requests members get with terms running concurrently √ √ her if they can provide such. with the current Board’s Encyclopedias Veterinary Manuals The FUR teams hopes to term and will be appointed incorporate this information by the current Board. Ini- into packets for officials. tially, the members of the 914 Riske Lane Coreen Eaton Accreditation committee Wentzville, MO 63385 636-828-5100 will serve as the members of the Professional Member

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7 33 Cover photo: One of many leopards sighted during a week-long safari at Mala Mala game reserve in South Africa, is this stunning daughter of the Kikilezi male. She provided photographers endless poses and her beauty and grace captivated everyone. Barry Bland, international freelance photographer, captured her intense stare in this cover photo. Read more about the real-life Eden on Earth inside this Journal, starting on page 18.

Back photo: Photographer Tawny Antle was one in a group of visitors lucky enough to see one of Mala Mala's more rare felines. The stunning conclusion to a nearly perfect Feline Conservation Federation game viewing day, this spotted serval, first sighted at the edge of an abandoned farm January/February 2012 • Volume 56, Issue 1 field, wandered right up to her vehicle to be spotlighted and photographed. Read about this serval and other animals on page 33.