Unlikely Friendships - Jennifer S. Holland [16]
The three cats sleep together in a furry heap in the bedroom Dale shares with his wife, allowing for the regular feedings the youngsters require. At about twelve months, he says, the caracals will be given free range of the reserve, while the lioness will begin to separate from the “family” at about eighteen months, when she’s ready to find a mate. “At that point, all the cats will be free to come and go as they feel comfortable; there’s no pressure on the animals to stay or leave,” Dale says.
Until then, each day is a sweet medley of eating, sleeping on the veranda, tumbling, grappling, clawing, and startling their caretakers as they race with mad abandon through house and garden. Kittens will be kittens, after all. Until they grow into caracals and lions.
{GEORGIA, U.S.A., 2001}
The Lion, the Tiger, and the Bear
AMERICAN BLACK BEAR
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Carnivora
FAMILY: Ursidae
GENUS: Ursus
SPECIES: Ursus americanus
TIGER
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Carnivora
FAMILY: Felidae
GENUS: Panthera
SPECIES: Panthera tigris
Oh, my! It’s the big three that spooked Dorothy and her Oz companions, together again. But at Noah’s Ark Animal Rehabilitation Center in Locust Grove, Georgia, lion, tiger, and bear aren’t frightening; they’re brothers.
They arrived together at the rehab center back in 2001, three cubs that had been confiscated by the Department of Natural Resources during a drug bust. They were Leo (the lion), Shere Khan (the tiger), and Baloo (the bear), and clearly the animals, not more than three months old apiece at the time, had become inseparable during their ordeal.
So together they remained. Their habitat at the center was made roomy enough for three, and they got a sturdy new “clubhouse,” a wooden structure built as a place to bunk and, sometimes, to hide from the streams of awestruck visitors peering at the center’s oddest mates. In the wild, these animals would have to cross oceans to meet face to face: lions come from Africa, tigers from Asia, and American black bears are, obviously, American. Yet their different beginnings haven’t kept them from being contented roommates.
Jama Hedgecoth, one of the founders of Noah’s Ark, says the animals play daily, sometimes roughly, yet tempers never flare. Everyone just gets along. Rubbing against each other, butting heads, and sleeping and eating together, “they truly live in harmony,” she says. In the morning they awaken full of pep, ready to wrestle each other and attack their toys (tires, logs, and other relatively indestructible objects). As afternoon creeps in, the three become a pile of lazy bones, sprawled out in the yard or on the “porch” of their house as visitors wander by.
Unlike most housecats, tigers like water. So do bears. That means Shere Khan and Baloo can share another activity: getting wet. They’ve had a series of tubs to splash in over the years, and when their habitat is next renovated, they’ll have access to a nearby creek.
Though it was originally a series of unfortunate circumstances that brought them together in Georgia, U.S.A., the lion, tiger, and bear born continents apart have settled in as a family, unaware of their disparate genetics and far-flung origins. “This is their forever home now,” says Jama, “and we hope they’ll have a long and healthy life together.”
{KENYA, 2002}
The Lioness and the Baby Oryx
EAST AFRICAN ORYX
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Artiodactyla
FAMILY: Bovidae
GENUS: Oryx
SPECIES: Oryx beisa
In the Samburu National Reserve of Kenya, the East African bush unfolds in thick scrubland and grassy hills, with muddy rivers curling like