Big Cats
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 10 months ago
A Mountain Lion made off with a 75-pound dog in Arizona a few days ago, but the dog managed to get loose from the big cat and survive unscathed.
In South Africa, a wildlife photographer noticed a Cheeta walking up to him, and apparently this big cat wanted to hug.
Maybe this is TCJ reader Fred, who loves big cats. No, he is much too young to be Fred.
On January 31, 2022 at 12:20 am, Dan said:
I bet that Cheetah was raised by humans and then released into the wild. Cats, when socialized to humans when young, aren’t afraid of us. They generally view as a likely
source of food.
On January 31, 2022 at 12:01 pm, Ohio Guy said:
That’s an extraordinary pic. Then again, I am a cat lover of many stripes…and spots. OG
On January 31, 2022 at 2:33 pm, Fred said:
Hey, I like little cats too. Cheetah that are hand raised are notoriously friendly. Cheetah don’t attack full grown humans. As everyone knows they are fast but with this brings light and thin bones. Their pray is very small deer and other small game. Humans are too large and strong to risk injury against. There may be exceptions but I’ve never heard of cheetah attacking adult humans. The one in the pic has a ponch. Cheetah don’t have fat little bellies, not if they want to survive they dont. That one is either pregnant or someone has been feeding it too much, I suspect.
Leopard also have spots. That’s a different ball game. They’ll kill ya and hang your carcass in a tree
On January 31, 2022 at 4:37 pm, Frank Clarke said:
H. Peter Miner died on Friday, March 13th, 1992, the result of a genetic disease that was diagnosed too early for there to be a cure: alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
Numerous stories are told about Peter, some by former girlfriends, which lends them more than a smidge of believability. One in particular has always warmed my heart. But first, a little background:
Peter was adopted by a Philadelphia couple, she of old Philadelphia money, and he of Kenyan coffee plantation money. When Peter was a child, he claims that one of his babysitters was their neighbor, Mr. and Mrs. Kelly’s daughter Grace. When Peter was a teenager, his parents divorced and Dad went back to Africa. Thereafter, Peter oscillated between Philadelphia and Kenya. At eighteen, Peter informed his father that he probably wouldn’t be returning to Africa on a regular schedule. To mark his transit to adulthood, Dad gifted Peter with a cheetah cub that Peter named ‘Paku’, Swahili for ‘cat’. Some time later, Peter and Mom relocated to St.Petersburg Florida, and Paku went with them.
Peter, one of his girlfriends told me, used to race Paku against dragsters at a Clearwater track. At the ‘go’ signal, girlfriend would put down a bowl of Paku’s favorite snack, and he and the car would race to the quarter-mile mark. In a quarter-mile, that’s usually an even match.
One night, Mom is awakened by a noise in the house and opens the door to the living room where she finds a burglar at work. She calls out to him: “I realize you must be quite desperate to be in the burglary business, but if you do not leave immediately, I shall have to call the cat.” The burglar snickers. Mom turns to the cheetah and says “Paku, sadik,” and opens the door for him. In two strides, Paku has his paws on the burglar’s shoulders. Then Mom calls the SPPD and they take the unfortunate chap into custody unharmed. Paku, after all, merely wanted to play with his new sadik (friend).
Paku is buried in the backyard of 7927 Par Av. N, St.Petersburg.