Nyla

NYLA
Female Leopard
DOB 6/6/94
Rescued 8/4/94
DOD 3/16/14
Nyla came to Big Cat Rescue with her brother, Simba, on 8/4/94. She was a product of the entertainment industry, which only wants perfect looking models. Because she was cross eyed, she was unwanted.
She gets very jealous if her brother Simba is getting any attention and will begin making a nuisance of herself until all the attention is focused on her. All she wants is everyone’s undivided affection.
She’s much smaller than her brother, though she is just as tough. We are happy that we’ve been able to keep the two of them close together so that they could at least live out their lives with a sibling with whom to share their experiences.
Nyla on “vacation” just a few days before her death.
Tributes to Nyla Leopard
I remembered her and Simba, playing their favorite game, back before we learned better, where they would race around and around a cage full of volunteers and then launch up and off the wall to be able to jump on someone’s head. The goal was to tackle the person to the ground. You got extra points if they screamed.
I remember the day someone came to my bedroom one early morning and said, “Come quick! There’s something gross in Nyla’s cage.” and it turned out to be Sundari and her black coated sister. Nyla hadn’t opened the sacks, so I did and was able to revive the dead little Sundari, but could not save her sister. Sabre was their dad. That was 1996 and pre Internet, so we had not learned yet than none of the privately held exotic cats would ever serve any conservation value.
Day after day, I’d try to get her to take Sundari back, but Nyla wouldn’t have any part of mother hood and was never bred again.
I’m so glad that she and her brother we re-united and got to go on “vacation” before her time was up. I had pressed for this to happen because we had come so close to losing Simba. I never dreamed that Nyla would go on before him. I am ever thankful to all of you who made her life the best it could be, and who worked so hard in the end to keep her comfortable until it was time to let her go.
Comments
Kylie Mosbacher
She is so precious! Who couldn’t adore that face, honestly?
Now I’m not terribly up to date on my feline social dynamics; do litter mates bond so closely that they enjoy each other’s company into adulthood? I was under the impression that big cats are fairly solitary animals, at least, in the wild. Does captivity change this in them?
Cynthia Longo
The pretty girl I am sponsoring!
Cynthia Longo
She has a brother too (Simba!) if anyone is interested in sponsoring him, or one of their other big cat friends (the amounts are affordable),