Big Cats

Wildlife Safari, where my sister took me for my birthday, is home to many, many animals. Among them are a number of large cats, including cougars, lions, tigers, and cheetahs. They actually have one of the most successful cheetah breeding programs in the world, helping keep them a step ahead of extinction.

Of course all the big cats are kept in enclosures away from the people, with two fences at least between any person and the animals. The cougar enclosure even had a top on it to prevent the cougars from getting out.

The cougars are the only one of the big cats that are easily seen without doing the drive through of the park. You can walk right past their enclosure and see them hanging out. The village at Wildlife Safari is actually free to go to, so you can see many of the smaller animals without paying for the drive through of the full park. 

The lions are enclosed within the greater Africa area of the drive through part of the park. They were pretty lazy while we went through, napping near the top of their enclosure.

The lions are best seen on the drive through of the park, but there is an overlook in the Village where you can see into the lion enclosure.

The tigers and cheetahs are the last animals that you see on the drive through of the park.

The tigers are only visible when you do the drive through of the park. 

Of course, even though in most of these photos you can't really see the fencing, all of these animals are completely fenced away from people. Other animals in the drive through area of the park are only fenced into the park, but not fenced away from people. But the large cats, of course, are fenced in.

Some of the animals seemed interested in the humans driving by. Others could care less about us. 

The cheetahs were my favorite of the large cats. There is just something about them that makes them seem more like giant house cats even than all of the other large cats. All of them do the same things, lounging in the sun, sit in boxes, nap in hammocks. But the cheetah just seem friendlier.

These were the two cheetahs down "Lover's Lane" which is where the cheetahs who are in the breeding program lived. These guys were up near the front gate, waiting for feeding time. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Wildlife Safari has one of the most successful cheetah breeding programs in the world. They have had 140 cubs born there.

Me and my sister went through the park twice, and the second time was late in the afternoon. Adorably, many of the cheetahs had moved indoors under their heat lamps for bedtime.

At the end of the day, the cheetahs had mostly moved into their houses, under their heat lamps, for bedtime.