New Cubs Arrive!

July 26, 2008

We return to Antelope Park from our road trip to exciting news. Although Lu Lu still hasn’t given birth, we are expecting new cubs. ALERT has come across an opportunity to rescue-purchase three cubs from a canned hunting breeding facility. There are two, four month old cubs that have been kept in a small enclosure and one, nine month cub that has been house raised. The man who owns the facility has grown a bit attached to the house raised cub, Sariah, and doesn’t want to turn her over to the hunting camp. I can’t believe this asshole actually has a soft spot. The story goes, he lost his wife a year ago and Sariah became his companion but now is starting to get too big. Sariah is too human and not enough lion. When we first gave her meat, she didn’t know how to get the skin off. The lion handler actually had to cut it off for her. Can you say “spoiled”? She also thinks she is a lap cat. If you sit down, she wants to sit on you. We let this behavior slide the first two days. We figure too much change may send her into a depression. But now it’s time to learn to be a lion. She’s been teamed up with the leader of the S group. Sahara. It was not a pretty introduction. Sahara was excited to meet her to friend. Sariah? Not so much. After of few days of growling and snarling they became buds. The plan is to have them out walking in the bush together by the end of the week.

Now, let’s talk about the three month old cubs, Barbed and Razor, a.k.a The Gremlins. These were their given names and plan to be changed. Why Barded and Razor you ask? Well, their father was found caught in a poacher’s snare. Don’t let the cute little faces fool you. When I first met these two I never thought such evil sounds could come out of such little bodies. You would have thought they were auditioning for the next filming of The Exorcist. I was more afraid of them than the big boys up at the breeding program. I sat with them the day after they arrived. Believe it or not, after a couple of hours I could actually touch them. The next day they were sitting in my lap. I would not have bet a penny that this would be the case. Look at ‘em. You have to admit… they’re cute as hell. And to think they were originally being hand raised to be hunted. If this isn’t a reason to support ALERT, I don’t know what is. www.lionalert.org