Pippa, Beverley and Chris:

Am now watching a great Animal Planet program called "Growing Up Black Leopard". It is the story of a leopard kitten rejected by his formerly abused parents here in the US.

There is an organization here in the US called Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center, run by the Craig family (Pat and Shelley and their two sons
(http://www.wildlife-sanctuary.org/) in Colorado. They have all kinds of cats - tigers, lions, leopard - just about everything - rescued from abusive or neglectful situations. Many were bought as kittens with people thinking they were so cute, and then when they got older and people woke up to how dangerous they could be, they didn't want them any more. Thus the Craig family takes care of them all on their 160 acre ranch and has hand raised many.

This is another reason why African wldife should not be allowed for sale outside of their native area. Same with snakes. I don't know how many stories I have heard about Americans buying pythons, black mambas, adders, etc. I think short of outlawing it, at the very least they ought to have to register them with the local authorities. Can you imagine someone with deadly snakes having a fire in their homes and firemen having to rush into the house to save humans, and landing in cages full of mambas and vipers?

It appears that the Craig family is really trying to make a difference. Just wanted to know if you'd heard about them?

Ciao all,

Talking about snakes - I came across a hissing sand snake here in Tuscany last year (found dead near my restaurant in a very small town); this type of snake is NOT from our local area at all but from Africa.
The snake (semi poison) was obviously owned by some person who did not want to take care of it and decided to throw it out.

I will look out for the program on Animal Planet on Satelite which I am sure my daughter will enjoy as she is stuck to animal programs.

Ciao,
Nico

Jan
No we have not heard of the Craigs but they sound like wonderful people.

You raise the important question of Sanctuaries. Good sanctuaries are of course necessary and wonderful but bad sanctuaries are a public nuisance and a danger to all concerned especially the animals.
In USA it is easy to set up sanctuaries; all u need is the money. Here in SA wildlife sanctuaries are banned. Think of the insanity of this official policy for a moment. if u want to breed lions to shoot them then you will be given all the permits u need. But if u want to offer animals in need life time care u will be prosecuted, and the animals confiscated and killed. It happened to us with three caracal at the KRC and the full story of how hard we had to fight to save those three little caracal lives is on our website
We have been trying for years to get the SA government to change its policy and to allow wildlife sanctuaries. With the help of the American Sanctuaries Association we drafted a policy document and sent it to all the conservation structures in SA for adoption as a national standard. U will not be surprised to hear that we have heard nothing. Although as a matter of interest the policy has been adopted in India.

When people like Chris and I now want to open a sanctuary for animals, like lions, we are given a real hard time. We applied for a permit in principle to start a lion sanctuary 7 months ago, we have not even had a reply from nature conservation. So what we will have to do is buy the land, spend an awful lot of money establishing the camps for big predators, then we will have to go to court to fight for the right to save these animals.

I believe it is extremely important to set up sanctuaries and utilize the fact that these animals are in them to educate the public to what is really happening to our wildlife. Without education our wildlife does not stand a chance.

Nico
We have just heard a lovely story from Rita of CARE. She is a wonderful old lady, aged75, who runs the main baboon rehab centre in SA, caring for 350 animals. She just told us about one of her volunteers who heard her little dog cry out yesterday, went to investigate and there was a python busy wrapping the dog up in its coils. Thinking fast the volunteer grabbed the python by the tail and shook it as hard as she could, and it unwrapped the dog, then she flung the snake as hard and as far as she could into the bush. So nice to hear such a story, no one hurt, snake off looking for its next meal, dog shaken but not stirred :-O Most people would have dragged out the shotgun and done the poor snake in.
I personally love snakes, and think them incredibly beautiful. I have a wonderful book on them. We had a gorgeous 2 metre yellow cobra in our garden the other day. Just visiting, nice to know they are still out there.
When we were at the KRC we used to get a lot of puff adders and i used to scoop them into a bucket and relocate them to my neighbors border, he was a bit of a snake himself so i figured he deserved a few friends, ha ha ha.
luv B

Great story about the python.

Be careful with cobras, Mori. We had a 3 meter cobra in our garden one night. Our dog was barking wildly at something in a little tree. A friend of mine went out to see what it was, but it wasn´t until he came back inside to report what he had seen that he really found out what it was. Coming into the room where the light was on, he realized that his glasses were all covered with a milky liquid. It was a spitting cobra and if it wasn´t for his glasses, he would have had it already

Silly thought:
If it is so easy to open a ranch for breeding and shooting lions, why don´t you open one? All you need to do is to pull a long face towards officials when you tell them that you still havn´t found any customers for hunting

When your papers are finally through, you change it into a sanctuary because your `hunting business´ was not successful

Great story on the Python and dog -

When living in Kenya - one of our Askaris feel asleep at night and got his legs wrapped up by a python. My mum was woken up by him screaming and she walked over and sorted the situation out.
Python went back into the bundu, mum was on the floor laughing and the Askari became the joke of the week.

My wife studied to be a Vet so you can imagine how she is with any animals that are hurt or caught.
Snakes are one of the most spectacular animals. There colours, the way the silently move, their wonderful cold blooded eyes, how they are able to catch their prey.
They get killed because of how they are and it is simply that people are ignorant.....

jan, excellent program and very good story!
the craig family might be somehow related to the craig family which runs LEWA conservation in kenya/laikipia? not simply because the cary the same surname but also because they seem to be also mad when it comes to wildlife and its conservation

nico
the same happens in germany occasionally! once we had a little croc in a big public swimmingpool formerly used a a gravel pit! can you imagine the outcry by the public about that creature huge news for weeks....
a young man in the 20ies had bought the croc as a baby and held it as a pet but all of a sudden it somehow disappeared! he presented all the papers which are necessary in germany to get permission for keeping dangerous animals. but this example shows that shit happens once in a while unintentionally. therefore i think dangerous animals should not be allowed to be kept in private households!
people have tarantulas, poisenous snakes, crocs etc. but thanks god big cats are not allowed! at least they are safe means not on offer!

mori
it seems SA now is quite like any other country in the world where lobbyist and money rules! i would have thought after SA got the chance in 1994 to change government from apartheid to a really new one for the better in every field. but regrettably it's not the case. i think SA wasted a great opportunity! the system seemingly is as rotten as all the others!

carsten,
you are a gem! that sounds like the solution for mori and chris! i really mean it!

mori you should think of it!!! it's not the straight route but better than waiting and wasting time! obviously most of the governments want to be fooled! just make use of the tools they provide! of course then you are playing in the same league as the others moraly but who cares if it's for the animals sake!