Operation Lions

Got up early morning, prepared coffee and got ready for the meeting with lions. Around 6.00 AM, Louise & her daughter picked me up from chalet and drove to the lion cage just behind office. One male and female lion had some viral infection resulting in non benign tumors on their lips making it difficult to eat. They had to be removed and once removed they don’t re-grow. Vet Gerrit Scheepers was ready to start the procedure. He prepared darts, antidotes etc and got ready to dart the lions. Gerrit is an awesome person. He is very approachable and ready to answer any questions. I connected with him easily and we discussed lot about Vet profession.

As we approached the enclosure, all the 5 lions came together at the entrance where Louise was waiting for them. They started licking her palm; has anyone seen lions licking human palm before? I have seen today. That is pure love and a trust Louise and lions have on each other? I don’t think even we humans trust each other so much. Basic difference; we are greed driven and animal love is pure and dedicated. We expect dollar to dollar return or more on every cent of investment. On the other side all animals expect in return is to be treated with respect/dignity with freedom.

Trust me it does not cost even a cent to treat any form of life with dignity and respect and we deny that too to animals; every moment in life.

Why and what for?

Why and for what, the human nature

Aren’t we greedy, money driven and selfish in nature? Has any animal requested for 5% guaranteed income for all the joy and love they give us? Not to my knowledge. Has any animal asked for 6% returns for all the faithfulness they show to us, No, not at all. What we do in turn is backstab them by chaining/whipping dogs, use them until they die in fighting ring, leave them to die in hunger, pain and suffering. Cats skinned alive in China for stuffed toys. Dolphin families brutally stabbed on Japanese shores and sold as a whale meat. Monkeys/Rabbits/Mice used in cruel animal testing. It is disgrace and disgusting. Sometimes I do pray to Lord Ganesh and wish to be reincarnated as an animal in next life, but ONLY on ONE condition, don’t let me fall in human hands. If that is acceptable to Lord Ganesh, then I am ready.

We severely punish fellow humans for cheating /robbing on each other. Can some one let me know what animals should do to us for all the brutality we give to them? Fortunately they are not all filled with vengeance so we are safe and hence we take undue advantage of their kindness to us.

Think about it, why Animal Precinct show on Animal planet is shown daily, why Animal cops are struggling to keep pace in each state and county.

Operation Lions continued

We had to separate healthy lions from infected ones by using meat and lure them in surrounding enclosure. Once this was complete Gerrit darted the lions and we waited for them to become unconscious. I had seen this event in many serials on discovery and animal planet, but today I got to be there in person. This is very satisfying, more so be able to help lions to get back to normal life style.

As soon as sedative took effect, Gerrit gave us the green signal. Couple of rangers, Gerrit and I rushed in the enclosure and spread the towels on the lion’s faces so that bright light won’t damage their sensitive eyes. Lion/Leopard eyes are 6 times more powerful than humans and they can see equally good even on a pitch dark night. This is called as nocturnal sight or Night Vision. Hence they are more active and hunting in the night. This ability to see very clearly in the night gives them natural advantage over prey species that don’t have so good eyesight at night. To counter affect this disadvantage, prey species at night highly tune up their other senses; smell and hearing. As long as night predators are stealthy and avoid being detected, they will usually succeed in night hunts. It’s a real drama unfolding every moment in wild kingdom.

Sitting with a sedated lion

This was the first time I was next to a living lion but sedated. What a magnificent creature it is? It is shame people want to see them hanging dead in the living room. Vet performed the operation on both, lion and lioness within 30 mins and gave them anti dote to begin the recovery process from sedative. During this time, I was constantly video taping the event and was in awe about the lion beauty and power. At one point I placed my forearm next to lioness paw which was one and half time in size of my forearm. One swipe with that powerful paw can knock head clean from my body. The lion claws are very sharp, formidable weapons and can rip open the guts clean. They can be retracted when chasing and when extended operate like a hook to nail down the prey. The lion canines are 4 to 5 inches in size and very sharp. The canines help lions to grip and suffocate the prey’s breathing system killing it within minutes. The molars behind the canines act like a saw tearing thru the meat.

Lion’s natural behavior as predators

Vets checked for any other symptoms and close the wound with stitches and we were all set. We came out and close the enclosure, waiting for lions to recover. Gerrit than told me it takes around couple of hours for lions to recover from the sedatives but they will be kept separate from rest of the pride for an entire day? Guess why this is done? Well I kind of knew the answer but it was great to hear from Gerrit.

Answer: All predators have keen sense about their potential prey, 6th sense so to speak. When any predators are in hunting mode this 6th sense is used to target the weakest link in the prey formation or any injured animal among the healthy group. This is nature’s way of preserving the best and survival of the fittest. Lions and other Predators will occasionally take down a healthy prey, but in majority of the hunts they single out the weak, defenseless or injured ones. Once they identify & lock on this weak link, the hunt begins. Trap is set; all lionesses start stalking and spread out blocking all the exits, crouching close and then final dash by the lead lioness to bring down the prey.

Same principle is applied by healthy lions to previously sedated lions. Although they are fully conscious now, it takes around 10-12 hours or so to restore their full power. If sedated lions are immediately released they may be perceived as a weak lions (though not as a prey) among the healthy pride and will be attacked sooner or later resulting in serious injuries or death. This was so educational for me.

Vet bitten by lion

I also asked vet dangers of his profession and he said sometime back a lioness partially woke up and attacked him and bite his forearm badly. Although he recovered, he reminded me again that no matter what time/location, Remember Lions are at the top of food chain and can be dangerous anytime if they want to be. “If they want to be” is so important and a profound statement here which will clearly explain why we are far more dangerous even without night vision, 6 inch canines and claws.

Lions have never abused their awesome power to kill humans unless we interfere. However realizing we are no comparison to living lions; humans developed guns to overcome that failure and created terror among animal kingdom. In early days of human civilization we hunted using primitive weapons made out of wood and stones, but again this was for daily survival. Industrialization changed things for worst. Killing any animal using guns is cowardly, heinous act and not bravery as many falsely try to show or brag about on websites & TV programs like Outdoor life network (OLN). To me personally, these websites should be shut down AND TV channel should be legally sued for cruelty and murder.

Although vet was bitten badly by a lion he has no regrets and ill feelings, in fact has more respect for lions. Mind well lions/tigers/leopards/rhinos/elephants are many more times powerful compared to us. He said; unfortunately when man & big cats cross paths in modern world, big cats loose the battle because they do not have a gun to defend themselves.

And the credit goes to...........

Later that afternoon we drove to Phalaborwa to pick up food for brown hyenas and wild dogs. Wild dogs in Africa are on endangered list mostly by loss of habitat. They are the supreme hunters on African plains and more importantly statistically highly successful predators. 90% of wild dog hunts results in a kill; Lions ratio is one in five. Like Hyenas, Wild Dogs run for hours as a pack and can bring down exhausted prey. They rarely get tired and can run for miles, most prey species cannot. In spite of their high success rate of kills, their numbers are on serious decline, AND the CREDIT GOES TO………………………… Humans again. Am I sarcastic here?

I am wondering is there anything we have touched in life and not destroyed it. Not that I can think of anything right away.

We fed the brown hyenas/dogs and returned to camp for lunch. Around 4.00 PM Louise picked me up from the camp and we went to office. Louise got the 3rd meerkat mother out of her separate cage. This mother recently had a litter of 3 pups. Meerkats are cute characters and very sociable. I played with her for a while and Louise returned her back to the cage just before leaving for the day.

I could not meet my Bliksem today, but will promise to make it up tomorrow. We are driving to Tzaneen tomorrow early morning.

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