Shocking news from Le Parc des Félins!! A 2 month old female ocelot was taken on Friday in "broad daylight". At that age she is still fully reliant on mum and although microchipped hasn't finished her vaccination course. The Parc is appealing for her return within six days in order to attempt to return her to her mother. http://www.parc-des-felins.com/2.2_actualites.php What shocks me most is that although PdF contacted the authorities, I've been unable to find any news articles about this. The success that Cotswold Wildlife Park had in the return of their infant squirrel monkey was in the high profile publicity - shaming out the perpetrators (or people in the know). The Parc waited until yesterday to email this news or put it on their website and they still haven't put it into the English version of the site (even though the criminals could have been in England within hours). For those non-Francophones this is a rough translation of the page: Google Translate I can only hope that this crime was opportunistic and spur-of-the-moment (and not something more sinister, organised or heaven-forbid an "inside job") and that once the individuals involved realise that this cute little bundle smells like hell, lacerates them to within an inch of their lives and tries to kill their dog that they are shamed into doing the right thing and returning it to the Parc. Time is running out though and more publicity would surely help. Apparently 3 keepers will be able to visually identify the kitten, and only 10 ocelot kittens were born last year.
http://www.parc-des-felins.com/en/2.2_actualites.php Here's the English version, really sad. I wonder how they stole it? Surely mum would have objected a bit!
Almost unthinkable - someone actually cut the mesh in a deliberate act. Due to the immense size of this park, most of the time there are no staff members around the visitors (I was there last October). Are all zoos going to have to have survellance cameras covering every inch of their grounds? This also reinforces another important role we docents play - being an extra set of eyes when the keepers are working behind the scenes.
