Big Cat Health Updates

Hoover Tiger has been moved out to his lakeside acreage and is doing great. No swimming for a couple of days.

Dutchess Tiger is locked up because she’s going home today as soon as we fix a leak in one of her dens.

King Tut. This is how we make sure our cats stay safe. Every day right after feeding, and again right after cleaning, the Keepers note issues we need to address before they become a problem. About: Cages More Info: broken Even More: top Describe More or Where: Tuts roof around a large tree closest to Kewlona and Dryden has a hole. There is one piece of metal that is keeping it from becoming a big hole. If it breaks like the other pieces around it have already, it will be a hole big enough for him to fit though. Reported By:: Julia

JUST SIX DAYS AGO

we were counting the seconds between each breath. This broken little bobcat seemed to have been snatched back, right from the jaws of death, and we all watched him through the night via webcams, praying that he would make it through the night. He was named Chief Spotted Eye and his story began to reach people all over the globe.

For the next six days we cheered as he went from coughing up huge clots of blood, and gurgling as if he were drowning with each breath, to breathing normally. He began to eat and drink on his own and we were elated that he felt good enough to make a mess of his enclosure, like any wild bobcat would be expected to do when caged.

By today he was the picture of vitality and we all believed he was strong enough to undergo the surgeries necessary to repair his broken arm and pelvis. The procedures were followed by the media and were streamed live around the world. Everyone was elated that the FHO and pelvis repair went smoothly and Chief Spotted Eye’s vitals remained strong. Just one last X-ray to be sure the pins and plates were all correctly positioned and it was time to wake him up.

But with no warning he began to crash and nothing the vet team could do would revive him. He was gone and the people who had all come to love him were stunned into silence. How could that be? Why did he die when it looked so promising that he would wake up, go back to being his bobcat self, and one day soon be running free? Why? Why? Why?

From a medical perspective; sometimes that just happens. Sedation for exotic cats is a very dangerous thing and sometimes they just don’t wake up. If we look at the extent of his injuries we can all stand in wonder that he even survived Thanksgiving night six days ago, but that doesn’t make his passing any easier to accept.

From a spiritual perspective I believe that we all are One and that we summon each other into our lives to learn the lessons necessary to elevate all of us to a higher level of enlightenment and love. I believe that I called Chief Spotted Eye into my life to remind me that life is fleeting, in this plane that we are experiencing now, anyway. He was a reminder to do all the good I can, while I can. I believe he called all of us into his short life to be reminded that even though some people are paving over the planet with our subdivisions, cities and cars, that others are doing something to insure harmony between our existence and that of the natural world.

If you were brought into this bobcat’s brief interaction with humanity I’d humbly suggest that you ask, “Why?” What lesson did he teach you?

TJ Swimming in the Lake

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Video by Shawna Prested via explore.org/bigcatrescue LIVE web cam

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