Ntombi, the one year old lioness, has been suffering from dizzy spells since August, and we took her for an MRI scan on Wednesday 15th September at the George Medi Clinic. She caused quite a stir on her arrival and the Scribante rooms were the favourite place for hospital staff to gather and monitor the distinguished patient.
The diagnosis was that there was severe pressure by the brain on the brainstem and that this condition was the result of a Vitamin A deficiency, caused by………you guessed right, inbreeding and poor food quality of food for the parents!! We are now treating her with Vitamin A injections daily, not an easy task if taken into consideration that lions dislike injections severely. Basically for every injection I give her she gives me a slap or a bite, fair trade you might think but believe me each slap contains five razor sharp claws.
Thus for every injection I give I receive five back, not fair at all. But then again neither Ntombi nor I excel at maths but we do have an agreement that I have one chance to give her the injection and if I miss or hesitate, it is open season for her. Luckily she is recovering very well and playing with her doggy friends again.
Today she is 100% better and well on her way to a full recovery. It is amazing to see her doing crazy lion stunts again, jumping and rolling around the yard…crazy lion!
Animal Communication
We are in the process of finalising an “Animal Communication Workshop” with Amelia Kinkade scheduled for February 2011. Amelia travels the world teaching animal lovers the skills to communicate with their animal friends and we are eager to have her teach at the Predator Sanctuary, watch this space for more info…
Kwela: Kyknet South African DSTV
We have made it to the Kwela (Kyknet on South African DSTV) finals in the humour section with our video of ‘Queenie’ flattening me in an illegal high and spear tackle, she should have been red carded, but everybody apparently think it is funny. It will be worth the pain if we can make it to the final three entries.
Please vote for us by sending a sms/text to: 33157 with the message “leeus”(South African Cell/Mobile phones only unfortunately).
If we can make it to the final three entries it would be a tremendous publicity boost for the Predator Sanctuary and you may also even win a trip to Namibia worth R70 000-00. You can send 30 SMSes messages from your cell phone. The voting lines will close on Tuesday 26th of October 2010.
PLEASE VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! We need the publicity.
Otherwise at Predator Sanctuary, home of the big cats, everybody is preparing for the coming festive season keeping us all very busy. The felines are all well and enjoying the good life. We have been working on an exercise and diet program for the girlies, lionesses, but it has been highly unsuccessful to date. They have got this nasty attitude towards anybody with even the slightest idea of implementing fitness programs, they snarl and tend to chase us out of their camps if we insist and you do not mess with a snarling lion.
Lots of “ROARSSS, CHIRPS AND PURRSSS!!!” from all of us at the Predator Sanctuary.
Roger Wynne-Dyke spent his twenties traveling and working in 20 different countries before settling back down in his home country of South Africa. Originally from Cape Town, Roger wanted to experience the world before anything else and through a keenness for traveling, new cultures and people.
Roger is the co-founder of EDGE or AFRICA with Dayne Davey, a volunteer organization which combines visiting the breathtaking, malaria-free Garden Route with authentic African volunteering – offering safe, sustainable projects that are actually making a tangible difference in people’s lives.
