WHAT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS WAY OF TOUCHING A LION


By bullet? By petting? By poisonous words?

Working for the lions

There are those who have passed through here. They gave real days or weeks (or Jann who gave 2 months). They sweated, toiled and worked.
Cutting through the bull
Building water pools


I sit here tonight and I wonder about those who have not tried, not left their keyboards but somehow have the power to deconstruct this sanctuary. 
Quite unbelievably there are those who can actually undo what we've done.

Living without a house, The constant penetrating cold; my mind races through all the things we live without...bathrooms, kitchens, walls... but living in the cold is the one that resounds the loudest. There are two other humans who are willing to live as I do. Tale and Line. They have joined me in this life lived for lions.

The thing that bewilders me is how someone sitting on the end of a computer in Florida USA or a cosy suburb in JHB, or any other warm, walled, plumbed room can have an influence over these lions more so than we do!

We spend hours every day simply feeding the lions. Wherever they came from, the fact of the matter is that we house them, we feed them, we pay for medical treatment, we fix fences, we dig holes, we grow older in the sun, we withstand the cold, we carry, collect, stay awake, wait, watch, run, sit, build, care and we stay.... we stay, we stay.





I repeat, how is it possible in a world in which lions are mistreated, that we are attacked for what we do? How is it possible that keyboard activists are more powerful and therefore more quickly able to tear down a lion sanctuary than we are able to build it?

I know that this is a rhetorical question because I know the answer. Time. We do not have the time to answer for ourselves or to fight on a keyboard. 
We are housing lions, feeding them, paying for medical treatment, driving for hours to take them to the hospital, growing older in the sun, withstanding cold, carrying, collecting, staying awake, waiting, watching, running, sitting, building, caring and staying, staying, staying. Never giving up.

Or maybe, whilst not looking at a screen, whilst too busy trying not to give up the life of one single real lion, we've actually lost the fight.
As I type this they still roar. I hear them. I am here.
Look up from the veld. Look at the horizon, Look beyond the water hole, look towards the USA from whence our killers come.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

INSPIRED BY A LIONESS

Image
5 YEARS WITH MELA (Lockdown Day 4) “Mela Bella baby lion” I call and wait a few seconds as I do not know where she is in her enclosure. A bush begins to shake and I look towards it as she bursts out of the leaves running to me. She is licking her lips and mewling in short whao whao moans. Mela was born on the 29th March 2015. It was a Sunday and I was in Johannesburg having my broken arm attended to (That is another whole story involving a fractured cheek and other miscellaneous breaks). Taiga phoned me in the morning exclaiming that there was a cub in Ariel’s enclosure. I was concussed and struggled to compute this as there was no way that there could be a cub in Arial’s enclosure, “what?” I asked “there is a cub in Ariel’s enclosure, it is alone, it is just sniffling around in the grass. Thulani called me to come and see it, I had heard what I thought was a cub screaming early this morning but theen I just thought it was impossible, what must I do?” “There can’t be a c...
Read more

THE LION WHO HAD BEEN HIT ON THE HEAD

Image
Let me tell you about Carl... On a walk in the mountain Looking out over the valley Would I be prepared to take a lion cub of approximately 7 weeks of age who was a pet to a woman who could not deal with this lion as it turned out that he scratched and he bit? On July 12th 2016 he was transported to a farm an hour away from me and 3 hours away from where he lived. He traveled in a cat box (domestic cat size). I arrived at the meeting point and lifted him out of his box, I snuggled him into my arms and told him, 'don't you worry little one, I've got you'. I asked the lady why he was so pale, she replied in an incredulous tone that it was because he was a white lion...Dha, how could I not know that, but the thing was, he was so dirty I had honestly not been able to tell that he was white, I had questioned his lack of cub spots and stripes, but thought him to be tawny. Later that day I began washing him with warm water as I held him closely in my lap. It...
Read more

THE STORY OF TAAI, MY LION SON

Image
A time when my heart used to walk around outside of me. Today is Taai’s 4 th birthday. I actually had to count the years this morning because although I woke up knowing that it is his 4 th birthday, I couldn’t believe it. How have 4 whole years gone by since he came into my life? Taai On the 26 th October 2013 a Lioness called Angel of Fire gave birth to 6 cubs. This is considered a large litter. Lions only have 4 nipples so 4 of the 6 cubs would comfortably suckle at one time whilst two would hungrily root around for a teat but only get to drink if they could nudge another cub off or the other cub had had enough and abandoned her spot.   For the first few days it seemed to be evenly matched with all cubs getting a chance to feed. But as the days progressed, Angel Of Fire would only allow 4 cubs to suckle, with no particular preference, she’d lie still whilst the first 4 cubs latched on but would quickly stand up and shake them all off when the 5...
Read more