LOL CAT!

[ashling]

[Arugula Latte]

1. What a magnificent animal! I'd like to do a big ol' "head rub/butt" with that kitty!

:loveya:

[LibertyLover]

2. A few years ago I got to go in the cage and pet a lioness

and let me tell you, when "kitty" wanted her head rubbed, you knew about it. There is something primordial about having a 400 pound lioness come up to you and butt you in the chest with her head because she wants to be petted. What kitty,kitty wanted - kitty, kitty got. She also liked having the area right above her tail scratched - just like a dog. When she wanted that scratched, she would back up really close to you and sort of wiggle her rear end a bit. She was a sweetie.

[stuntcat]

3. omg

oh I'm like insanely jealous over this. That would make my whole life, I'd be bragging every day forever if I got to pet a lion!!

The one in this picture is beautiful, I added him to my screensaver :headbang:

[LibertyLover]

4. OK, I'll make you a bit more jealous -

the same folks who owned the lioness also had 2 cougars and a tiger cub. The cougars we didn't get to pet because they had just done a tv commercial and were still wired. However, we did get to play with the tiger cub. He was 12 weeks old and just as cute as cute could be. He loved to play at stalking - you would be talking and all of a sudden there was a tiger cub clinging to your foot, mewling and trying to shake it. It was really funny. The people had a Golden Retriever bitch and let me tell you, that goldie put her paw down and the tiger cub saluted and asked how high she wanted him to jump. At one point the tiger cub was getting a bit too enthusiastic about pouncing and stalked and pounced on the Goldie. She shook him off, then got up lifted him by the scruff of his neck, shook him and put him down. He was quite a handful - 30 or so pounds already, but she was one miffed substitute momma. Years ago, probably 25 or so now, a company came to one of the local malls with some lion and tiger cubs and you could have your photo taken with them. My best friend and I took her 2 kids and had their photos taken with lion cubs and white tiger cubs. She and I also did the lion cub thing, so I have actually held a lion cub - for roughly 30 seconds - and petted a white tiger cub. There were no other customers at the time so the photographer let us pet the tiger cub a bit. Such a cutie. I've also petted a leopard and a rhino in Kenya. Both were young and orphaned and being taken care of in an animal sanctuary. The rhino calf liked me and followed me around the sanctuary. His keeper thought that was really funny. I couldn't help but remember the Bill Cosby piece about the house protected by the watch-rhino.

[stuntcat]

5. oh this is TOO MUCH

a 12 week old tiger?? :wow: :wow:

The young rhino must have been about as sweet as anything in the world too :loveya: Yeah I'm totally jealous but I get points for meeting someone who actually did it, this is the best kinda story!

[LibertyLover]

6. The rhino was a sweetie

It was at the Mount Kenya Safari Club, in Kenya. The place was started in 1958 or so by the actor William Holden, among others. It's on Mt. Kenya the second highest mountain in Kenya and right next to the Mount Kenya National Park. Back in the day, Winston Churchill and Bing Crosby were members. I was there in 1974 with my mom. We were on safari and stayed there 2 days. The first day we went on a game run on the grounds and came across a herd of eland. These things are big - standing 2 meters at the shoulder and weighing about 275 kilos. We were in safari cars with large roof windows that opened so that you could pop up and take pictures of the animals. So, our driver stops the car and the eland, being totally unafraid of humans gather around to look at us. I stood up through the roof opening to take a photo and one of the eland was right there looking back. Before I could take the photo, the damned thing sneezed on me. Let me tell you - eland snot is not the most pleasant bodily fluid to have on you and your camera.

Later, after lunch (eaten by the pool with ducks and peacocks and crested cranes wandering about) we went to the animal orphanage. That's where I got to pet the leopard cub and the rhino calf. The rhino was the cutest thing. When I petted him, I patted him fairly hard, you had to to make an impression through the thick skin. The keeper said that's why he was following me around - that he had been able to feel me petting him and that's how his mother would have treated him - not little ineffectual pats that you would give to a dog or cat.

The really rotten thing about the whole trip is that we didn't know it but our camera was not working properly. Back in those days of course you took film and we didn't get it developed until we got home. When we did, most of the photos were just not good - too dark and not in focus, even though it had looked ok when we took the pictures. Apparently the first game run we did, which was in a small plane, had jarred something loose. But the other camera we had, while not having the cool lenses (wide angle and telephoto as our Konica 35 mm., was working and we got some interesting photos.