Cha Cha Jungle Cat

DOB 5/2/97- 12/9/09

Arrived at Big Cat Rescue 12/5/99

Cha Cha came to Big Cat Rescue on 12/5/99 with Rambo. She was bred for the pet trade. Her owner had sent her to live with her daughter who died unexpectedly and her primary caregiver became the 12 year old grand daughter. She and her relatives agreed that they did not want to see Cha Cha exploited as part of a hybridization breeding plan for profit and asked if she could come live at Big Cat Rescue. Here she has a 900 square foot Cat-A-Tat with tunnels, grasses, hills, bushes, trees and flowers. She is not as friendly as Rambo, but we have seen her cattitude improve daily with lots of love and space to be a cat. Cha Cha can be quite deceiving with her small build and cute fluffy face. One of the ways she likes to entertain herself is to lie on her back with her paws spread out into the air coaxing keepers close to say hello, but when they get near, she will leap to her feet and charge the side of her enclosure hissing and spitting. Once she has startled her observer, she will then go back to her alluring position to await her next victim. In order to develop a more positive relationship between Cha Cha and her keepers, she is participating in the operant training program. This is one of her favorite times of the day.

12/9/09 Cha Cha the Jungle Cat had been returned to her Cat-a-tat pending the results of her blood work as her eye looked normal and she was refusing to eat while confined to the Cat Hospital. This morning, Dec. 9, the morning cleaning crew found her in a coma and Jessica rushed her to the vet’s office, but Cha Cha died later in the morning. Her necropsy gives us no obvious clues as to her death. Her lab results are still out, so her area is being treated as a quarantine area until we know the cause of death. If anybody ever hated living in a cage, it was Cha Cha and although we will miss her, we can take solace in knowing that she will never have to spend one more day behind bars for a crime she didn’t commit.
TRIBUTES FOR CHA CHA

I am going to miss this hissy little girl! We were just getting to the point where she seemed to enjoy operant conditioning! It was always a joy to see her burst out of the foliage! Rest in peace little one……Lisa, Volunteer Senior Keeper

Poor girl… She is finally enjoying freedom now… and she got to say goodbye to her friends before her long trip! We’ll all miss her and Rambo as well!!! Marie, Volunteer Senior Keeper

We had a love/hate relationship. I loved her, she hated me. I already miss your fierceness, ChaCha girl…Babs, Volunteer Keeper

Well today is the day of my sadness – I didn’t know my little girl pass until now – my soul is so sad – but I know now she is free – so to my little girl one day I will see you again – I loved you so much Cha Cha!….Cathy M, Volunteer Keeper
I Am Always With Them
And God asked the feline spirit,
“Are you ready to come home?”
“Oh, yes, quite so,” replied the precious soul,
“And, as a cat, you know I am most able to decide anything for myself.”
“Are you coming then?” asked God.
“Soon,” replied the whiskered angel,
“But I must come slowly, for my human friends are troubled
For, you see, they need me, quite certainly.”
“But don’t they understand?” asked God, “That you’ll never leave them?
That your souls are intertwined. For all eternity?
That nothing is created or destroyed? It just is….forever and ever and ever.”
“Eventually they will understand,” replied the glorious cat,
“For I will whisper into their hearts that I am always with them,
I just am….forever and ever and ever.”

In Loving Memory of Cha Cha