Meeting the Cheetah

I had to laugh when I sent my dad on one of these ‘meet and greets’…he comes back and says to me, ‘why don’t they call it eatah cheetah, that would get some publicity!’

not very pc, but he’s the type who would get a kick out of a safari hunt on the veltland in S/Afrika…

I guess they pick up on the animal after knowing it for so long.

One of my cats hates almost all young kids, and it is immediately obvious to me when this is the case. She gets a look of disdain that is hard to miss.

My two young nephews did this, sort of. One wasn’t allowed in, the cheetah took an instant dislike to him! Apparently something to do with body language. The other was fine and got it purring pretty much straight away.

I don’t know how the keepers knew the cheetah wasn’t happy with the younger nephew. I guess they pick up on the animal after knowing it for so long.

I had one of those ‘up close and personal’ experiences with both a tiger and a bear when in Thailand once. Unfortately the zoo management seemed to be relying on the visitors to feed the animals and I got attacked by the bear. Well, maybe it wasn’t ‘cos i didn’t feed it that it attacked me, but because I smelt of lion… Then again, maybe it just didn’t like me or wasn’t in the mood to meet and greet. We all have off days after all.
Either way, i was pleased to see the big cats at this zoo eating substantial pieces of meat. And the handlers being reasonably involved in the handling (not my experience in Thailand where the handler had a very casual approach to his job)

That was about 10 years ago and thanks to a recent back injury the injury from the attack has now detoriated to the point where I’m on a 2 year waiting list for knee surgery. Gotta love the public health system eh?

Yeah, did sound a bit of a fuck off kinda purr.

The cheetah to which you refer was both wild and rabid. The victim was presenter of the Big Cat Diary series, Simon King, and he was quoted as saying:

Seven jabs later, I should be able to bathe in the rabies virus without being infected

Meanwhile, on the BBC website, there’s a video story today about a wildlife reporter getting attacked by a cheetah…

Can’t do the linking thing, try http://news.bbc.co.uk

$195 to meet a cheetah! For that price he should provide dinner and drinks.

yeah – sounded strangely like a fcuk off kinda purr!

Listen to that purr!

Presumably these folks are from Cirque De Soleil. They make mention of being with the ‘circus’ at the beginning.