Saturday, March 15, 2008

A Vist to the Jungle


I had the great pleasure to make a quick 3 day trip to Sarasota, Florida. The purpose was to see Ben (my son) and get him settled. The real highlight of the trip was when he and I went to the Big Cat Rescue on Saturday. What a wonerful place. It is not a zoo, but a wild cat refruge. They have wild cats rescued from the entertainment industry, private persons, and surplus zoo animals.The admission was very reasonable, so I was delighted to be able to make a gift, too. This is good work they do. Different from a zoo, where you are free to walk around on your own and look at the exhibits, here we were members of a small group taken on an escorted and narrated tour. Great, factual information was provided on each individual cat, as well as the species.We saw lions, tigers, and bears - - no not bears - that was in The Wizard of Oz . We did see lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, pumas, (black panthers), Jaguars, Sand Cats, Caracals, a Snow Leopard, a Clouded Leopard, Lynxes, Bobcats, and Ocelots.The great thing about seeing all these cats was that we were "up close and personal" with them and they were all very active. Nothing like in a zoo. If you can take this tour and not be awed by the splendor of these wonderful creatures then I would have to question your humanity.When we left the Big Cat Rescue we went to the Tampa Zoo. We really should have done it the other way around and gone tothe zoo first. After the rescue tour, the zoo was a disappointment. Not that it is not a wonderful zoo, for it is! But it was just not anything near the experience we had at the rescue.If you are ever in the Tampa area I urge you to experience the Big Cat Rescue.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Making A Difference

I was asked the other day why I support cat rescue organizations. I was told, "There are so many strays and feral cats out there, you will never be able to do any real good." Well that reminded me of this little story:

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.

He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young woman and the young woman wasn't dancing, but instead she was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young woman paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But, young woman, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it? You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young woman listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said- "It made a difference for that one."

How the Weeping Willow Got It's Name

A farmer, annoyed that his barn cat had just given birth to another litter of kittens, decided that his farm had enough mouths to feed. He put the newborn babies in a feed sack, went down to the riverbank and threw the kittens in the water to be rid of them. In the turbulence of the fast moving river, the tie on the sack became loosened which set the kittens adrift. On the riverbank witnessing this horrible sight, the distressed mother cat wept loud and pitifully.

A cluster of willow bushes, along the riverbank downstream, heard her cries and in sympathy held out their branches like mooring lines. This enabled the desperately floundering kittens to grab hold as they drifted by. Now in mythology, when the life we are assigned on earth is doomed but because the spirit is eternal, myth dictates that the spirit can live on but must be in an another earthly form. Because the kittens were destined to die, but their spirits were saved, they then became part of the willows which had saved them. Ever since then, in Spring, the willow-without-a-flower decks itself out in gentle velvet buds that feel to the fingers like the silky coat of a small cat. These buds are known today as catkins and remarkably, in every country, these soft willow trees are named after cats.

Wild Cats are WILD!

During the late 1980s a gullible martial-arts student was convinced that he could kill any wild animal. After all, his tutor had told him and his follow students that they had now reached the point in their training at which they could perform such a feat. Being physically able to deliver a blow that will kill is one thing, but getting the intended victim to hold still while you line up your punch is quite another.

This student decided to put his newfound skills to the test, and one night stole into the Melbourne Zoo. How best to test his lethal skills? On a lion, of course – what else? So he went into the lions’ enclosure and tried to take on one of its dangerous occupants. Unfortunately he didn’t get to land a single blow, because the lion – totally unaware of the newly acquired lethal punching power of the intruder – attacked him first. The next day, . . . well you can guess the outcome.
(From The World’s Stupidest Deaths by Andrew John and Stephen Blake)