CATS ON TUESDAY is a group of cat lovers
who share pictures and/or stories about their cats once a week,
hosted by Gattina.
I have adopted a new cat.... My totem animal is a black panther, so I decided I wanted to do something for a real black panther. Her name is Bagheera! Of course she doesn't live with us; she lives at Big Cat Rescue, an educational sanctuary and a home for more than 100 big cats in Tampa, Florida.
BagheeraDOB March 1 (1989)Here's her bio:
Bagheera came to Big Cat Rescue on May 27, 1995 from Oklahoma, with Adonnis. Watch this movie clip done by Julie Hanan as a thank you to Vern for building the cage expansion for them that she won in a contest at Big Cat Rescue. Play clip.
Bagheera had also been declawed and it was the intention of her owners to keep her as a pet. As usually happens, this plan just didn’t work out. When they moved, they had no room for their leopards. How sad that people refuse to think of the long term consequences of impulsive decisions like buying an exotic animal to raise as a pet. It rarely works out for the owners, and definitely not for the animals involved. Though she was bottle fed, she is definitely not tame enough to handle safely.
Luckily, Big Cat Rescue was able to rescue these leopards. It was thought that Bagheera may have been pregnant when she arrived, but she was not. She has always had a very large growth in her belly region giving her the appearance of being pregnant. With her large belly and tiny, laid back ears, she is definitely not the most attractive leopard you will ever see, but Adonnis loves her dearly. It was a wonderful day when they were reintroduced to life together. Captivity is lonely enough without someone with whom to share your days...
Bagheera had also been declawed and it was the intention of her owners to keep her as a pet. As usually happens, this plan just didn’t work out. When they moved, they had no room for their leopards. How sad that people refuse to think of the long term consequences of impulsive decisions like buying an exotic animal to raise as a pet. It rarely works out for the owners, and definitely not for the animals involved. Though she was bottle fed, she is definitely not tame enough to handle safely.
Luckily, Big Cat Rescue was able to rescue these leopards. It was thought that Bagheera may have been pregnant when she arrived, but she was not. She has always had a very large growth in her belly region giving her the appearance of being pregnant. With her large belly and tiny, laid back ears, she is definitely not the most attractive leopard you will ever see, but Adonnis loves her dearly. It was a wonderful day when they were reintroduced to life together. Captivity is lonely enough without someone with whom to share your days...
Bagheera is beautiful, what a cool thing to do! Happy adopting!
ReplyDeleteThat is a very very sad story !! It shouldn't be allowed to keep wild animals as pets. I thought it is forbidden now. Fortunately they got rescued ! Congratulations to your new "cat" !!
ReplyDeleteBagheera is a very lovely "black panther." We're of course quite partial to black panthers, ourselves :)
ReplyDeleteThat is a sad story, it's great that there are groups like Big Cat Rescue to help these animals, and that you were able to "adopt" your panther. We hope she has a good life now.
Nice you can adopt Bagheera to help her! She will live in peace now! She's beautiful! I wasin love with the Bagheera of Kipling when I was a child!
ReplyDeleteOoohhh! What a beautiful Black
ReplyDeletePanther. So sad that people think that a wild animal could be a pet!
Bagheera looks like a larger version of my mancat Spooky!
I am glad you have the resourses
to adopt this wonderful cat.
Lots of Purrs from cats around the
world & us!
Spooky,Daisy,Aniwa,Shadow and
Jewelgirl
A sad story, but thank goodness there are rescue facilities. We have one of these facilities in Toronto with a black panther some bears and large dangerous lizards and snakes.
ReplyDeleteSee ya on Thursday!
Poor Bagheera! How terrible to be declawed. Isn't it illegal to keep such pets?
ReplyDeleteGlad she's in a better place - with an adopted mum who pays the bills to boot...
Congratulations on the adoption of Bagheera! She is beautiful (and very lucky to have such a wonderful sponsor).
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for visiting my site and commenting on my cat, Pippin. Hope I can get into the habit of posting a weekly COT...cat lovers are cool people :)
I've always felt my totem is the black panther, too. So I'm very glad to hear you've adopted a real rescue big cat. I'm also dismayed by people trying to own exotic animals as pets. Panthers are built to take down large game. Declawing them won't prevent them from becoming as large and powerful as they're meant to be. Thanks for sharing your adoption with us.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting story and what a beautiful animal - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWishing you a great end to your week :-)
Tinkerbell you truely are a fairy that makes dreams come true!
ReplyDeleteI've dreamt of "owning" a black leopard but knew I never would - sponsoring is the next best (if not better) thing but until I came across your story I had no idea how!
Many thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
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