One Joins, One Leaves

At a wildlife century with hundreds of animals we often receive new animals, and unfortunately see some leave this planet.

Little Emma

Last week we get the call that we would be receiving a baby baboon. Its mother had been shot and the baby was taken and sold on the street. Some good samaritan bought her off the bastard (mind the language!) and called Na/an Kuse to get the baby baboon. As sad as the story goes, its always exciting when we get a new baboon joining us, and at just 2 weeks old, baby Emma was cute!! She will need 24/7 care for the first month, this means that during the day she is in a baby sling with one of us, and at night she sleeps with one of the coordinators. Hopefully she will have a nice future here at the farm.

Little Emma!

Goodbye Meatball

A couple weeks ago I shared a photo of Meatball the male lion. He had been on the farm for over 10 years and was one of the first residents. On Saturday during a routine carnivore feed he did not show up (which is quite rare). Later that afternoon a tour guide who was showing guests (who sponsor Meatball) around the enclosure, and spotted Meatball under a tree, lifeless. Meatball lost his life. His genitals got bitten off by a honey badger and unfortunately the wound never healed, leading too kidney failure.

Once we received the call, the 4 of us male volunteers  and Cila (the farm director) headed to the enclosure to retrieve Meatball. Another group went to the other side of the enclosure to lure Gobbalina (the female lion) away and keep her occupied whilst we got Meatball. Upon seeing the such a magnificent creature on the floor, we all felt a bit of sadness. The 4 of us then carried him up onto a pick up truck (he was very very very heavy) and took him out of the enclosure. It felt surreal sitting next to this creature, expecting him to wake up, but unfortunately his fate was already decided. 

We took him back to the farm to let everyone else have a quick look and say their goodbyes and then proceeded to take him to the freezer at the lodge. This was done to preserve his body until we could get a vet over to perform an autopsy. It was a sad day here at the farm to see one of the world’s most beautiful animals pass away, but thats life.

Goodbye Big Boy!