Weekly Feline News

Here are the cat-related news for the past week..

First lions. The lions of Amboseli in Kenya are being threatened by the illegal mining ventures of a construction company across their territory. Amboseli in southern Kenya is a world-renowned park that hosts a variety of endangered prey and predator species. Recently a construction company began to work on a rock quarry and road that pass right across critical corridors of the animal habitat there. The whole project is illegal and provides no service to the local community, rendering merely significant damage to the conservancy. To read more about this, you can visit the AWF blog that brought this issue to light. To contact the construction company and urge them to reconsider their acts in Amboseli, go here.

Staying with lions - the government in Zimbabwe has taken over the care of nearly seventy captive lions after their owner mysteriously fled to South Africa. The captive lion facility in Masvingo, Zimbabwe, was reportedly a private breeding center for African lions. However, there are signs that of late the private owner was facing difficulties managing the park. Still it was quite irresponsible of him to suddenly vanish and leave the lions unsupervised and starving, and the local population at risk from their attacks. Fortunately the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe has intervened just in time and is taking care of the big cats. More here.

From one 'lion man' to another. Craig Busch, the former curator at Zion Wildlife Gardens in New Zealand is still locked in a legal battle with his mother over custody of the park. There are rumors that thirty lions and tigers at Zion were declawed by him, which if true, do not project a good light on Mr Busch. To read more about him, go here. And to learn about a real lion man, go here on Liz's blog.

To leopards. The Arabian Leopards are set to benefit from the creation of a new wildlife park in United Arab Emirates. The smallest of all leopard subspecies, Arabian Leopards are critically endangered and already extinct from many parts of Arabia. This new park will perhaps help revive their numbers and stabilize the wild herbivore population in UAE. More here.

In India, they continue to come into conflicts with people owing to human overpopulation and crowding in parts. Here and here are two accounts of recent interactions between the panthers and people.

And finally here is a thought-provoking article - on circuses! Read it here. To read more about the plight of circus animals, and the organization working to protect them, please go here.



Also...I was recently given this wonderful 'Works of Heart' Award by Duni @ Lovely Purses. Thanks so much!! I'd like to pass this award to the following cool blogs:

Anita

Katz Tales

Kareltje

Maru

Miss Peach

Mr Hendrix

Tennessee Text Wrestling

Maru, by the way, is one of the most awesome kitties on the planet! Here's his youtube channel. Enjoy!

Have a great week :)