New arrival!

It's been pretty hectic the last week or so at WHF, mainly preparing for the imminent open days - painting stand off fences, weeding etc amongst the usual hustle and bustle of daily life at the site. I've been away for two weeks (returning last Saturday) and came back to some exciting news... the new snow leopard was due to arrive the following week!

Yarko's arrival

This snow leopard has been a bit of a mystery cat. He was due to arrive in January 2013 - it's now June 2013. He's a little bit late bless him. Laila, our resident female, has been awaiting his arrival and slowly becoming more reclusive in the meantime so his arrival was much anticipated. Since I've been at WHF it's very much been "he's coming but who knows when!", so hearing this news was very exciting. 

Unloading to the den

So on Wednesday we were all waiting and hoping, getting regular updates throughout the day and finally heard that he'd been cleared through Heathrow Airport and was on his way! After much waiting he finally arrived at WHF at around 7pm to a small crowd of people able to stay and help unload him. He was quite active in his crate, obviously keen to get out after his long journey from Russia. After some rearranging of the crate to the den door he finally emerged into his new home. 

First day outside

Safely arrived in his new home

His name is Yarko, he's 2 years old and amazingly handsome (for a snow leopard). He'll now be in quarantine for 4months, but in the meantime he'll be getting used to his new home (inside and out) and the other residents on site - especially the two hooligan Sumatran tiger boys opposite. He was out today for the first time in a rather precarious position underneath a platform for most of the day watching the world go by. It has to be quite a shock to be in the Kent countryside after living in Russia, but hopefully he'll settle in quickly and get to meet Laila in a few months time!  

Yarko's arrival takes us back up to 57 cats with the departure of Little Khan the Pallas Cat (to Cotswold) a few weeks ago

Streak for tigers

WHF is lucky to have a huge bunch of people willing to do crazy things to raise money for conservation and big cats. The latest is raising money through a ZSL (Zoological Society of London) organised event: "Streak for Tigers". 300 brave (or crazy) people will be running around London Zoo in nothing but a pair of tiger ears to raise money for Sumatran Tiger conservation. The 300 people will represent the estimated 300 Sumatran tigers left in the wild and what an amazing (daring) way to raise awareness and money for such a great appeal. 

Mike and Andy have already entered and are getting some practice in to raise awareness before the big day. You can read more about their challenge and support them here.  As the money total increases more "preview" photos will be uploaded on the site, so they can get a little more courage for the big day. We shall all be cheering them on, although perhaps not on the side lines doing so!

Touring

One of the most popular experiences offered by WHF is the "Big Cat Experience," a two hour personal tour of the site followed by the chance to hand feed one of the cats. It is park policy for volunteers to shadow several of these tours with a keeper prior to let loose on the general public ourselves. These were hugely enjoyable to follow and going around with lots of different people gives a huge variety of information and styles that I found largely interesting and educational.

Now two months into my internship at WHF I officially completed my first solo tour last week, and have now been doing them regularly throughout the week. The enthusiasm of the visitors makes the tours a pretty relaxed affair, and the cats usually behave themselves and come to see me/them. I'm not so keen on the obligatory "tour guide photo" that a lot of people seem to want but I guess that's all part of the experience!

I love being able to have the chance to tell people all about the cats at WHF and I feel I know enough about them now to give an entertaining and information tour. It's always nice to spend a few hours just watching the cats and seeing the delight on people's faces as we do so, especially when it's one of the little known species they've never heard of before.

I'm really looking forward to meeting more people and doing more of these tours, especially if I find the elusive cheetah lover who wants to desperately hand feed Mia or Murphy.

Tamair saying "HI!"