A CHEETAH ENCOUNTER IN THE SERENGETI




Cheetah Encounter with photos by Bobby-Jo Clow
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. A family of young cheetahs came very close to 
full-time Elephant Keeper at a Tanzanian Zoo, so close to smell her hair, until their mother called them back into the grasslands. When Bobby-Jo Clow got the photograph, the cheetah hissed and bared teeth.





 



All Photos by Bobby-Jo Clow

The cubs were born at the start of February

Sumatran tiger cubs born at London Zoo

Hidden cameras have captured the birth of three tiger cubs at London Zoo.

The tigers were born to five-year-old Sumatran tigress Melati on 3 February after a 106-day pregnancy.
The entire birth process was monitored using remote camera technology. The zoo has yet to establish the sex of the cubs.
Footage courtesy of the Zoological Society of London.

Abandoned Dog Found Nursing Kitten

By Amy Sinatra Ayres | vetstreet.com

Beignet the dog adopted Gumbo the kitten after they were abandoned by their owners.After a California family moved away, their neighbors discovered they'd left their longhaired Chihuahua and a kitten behind. Neighbors could hear the pair in the backyard of their home, where they found the 1-year-old dog nursing the 5-month-old kitten she'd decided to adopt as her own.
They were brought to a local shelter, and arrived at the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., last week. Today, they'll be introduced to the public in the rescue's 2 nd Annual Doggie Gras Parade and Fat Cat Tuesday Celebration.
The two have been aptly named for their Mardi Gras debut - the pup is now called Beignet and her kitten son is known as Gumbo. "They love each other. That's all there is to it. It's not complicated," said the center's inventory manager, Labeth Thompson. "They needed each other and they were there for each other." The parade serves as the kickoff to find a new home where the bonded duo can live together. -

STRIKE UP THE BAND!

Mother Chihuahua and “Her” Kitten Son Have Much to Celebrate…   

(FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:  Orphan Chihuahua mother Beignet sheds a tear of relief.  Kitten Gumbo stays near his mother’s side.  Beignet and Gumbo keep close for comfort.)

Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.– At Helen Woodward Animal Center an unlikely mother and baby pairing are proving that love has no bounds.  Found nursing a tiny kitten in Barstow, CA, a Longhaired Chihuahua canine is redefining the mother/son bond.  The pair was discovered by neighbors of a family who had moved away in early January.  The adorable twosome were turned in to the Barstow Humane Society days later and arrived at Helen Woodward Animal Center to begin the next step of their journey together on Thursday, February 27th.  Center staff intends to keep this special duo together and is seeking one adopter for both the mother and son.  The public will be introduced to the pair at the Center’s 2nd Annual Doggie Gras Parade and Fat Cat Tuesday Celebration on Tuesday, March 4th at 11am.   In honor of the celebration, the mother canine has been named Beignet and her darling kitten son has been named Gumbo.
Will you help us save more pets like Beignet and Gumbo? Your gift today will go directly toward the care of orphaned pets.
The road traveled by an orphan animal is often filled with mistreatment, loneliness and fear.  How each of these creatures adapts to their challenging circumstances becomes a major factor in their unique personalities and often leaves rescue workers inspired by their unwavering ability to accept, love and trust.  Beignet and Gumbo’s inspirational story began when neighbors reported hearing what sounded like a relocated family’s abandoned dog tending to a new puppy in their former backyard.  With evening temperatures falling to 20 degrees, efforts were made to rescue the canine family.   Instead of a new puppy, however, the mother dog was found nursing an abandoned kitten.  The strength, nourishment and incredible comfort the two had provided to one other during their time alone was miraculous and their bond was beautiful.
The mother/son team is currently being cared for by the Helen Woodward Animal Center veterinary staff.  Beignet is currently 1 year and 7 months old and Gumbo is 5 months old.  Both pets will be altered, receive deworming, vaccinations and microchip-ing and will begin their official search for a forever home on Tuesday, March 4th following the Doggie Gras Celebration. 

“This incredible little family really demonstrates the pure hearts of the orphan animals we meet each day,” said Helen Woodward Animal Center Inventory Manager Labeth Thompson.   “They love each other.  That’s all there is to it.  It’s not complicated.  They needed each other and they were there for each other.”
For more information on Beignet and Gumbo, or for inquires about adoption, please contact the Adoptions Department at: 858-756-4117 ext. 1, or stop by at 6461 El Apajo Road in Rancho Santa Fe.
About Helen Woodward Animal Center
Helen Woodward Animal Center is a private, non-profit organization where “people help animals and animals help people.” Founded in 1972 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., the Center provides services for more than 57,000 people and thousands of animals annually through adoptions, educational and therapeutic programs both onsite and throughout the community. Helen Woodward Animal Center is also the creator of the international Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption drive and the Animal Center Education Services program, teaching the business of saving lives to animal welfare leaders from around the world.

L.A. council votes to ban stores from selling non-rescue dogs, cats

Los Angeles lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of an ordinance that will make L.A. the largest city in America to ban pet stores from selling dogs, cats and rabbits obtained from commercial breeders.
The ordinance, which the City Council voted 12-2 to approve, targets puppy mills and is designed to cut down on the tens of thousands of animals euthanized each year in city shelters.
Under the law, individuals will still be allowed to buy directly from breeders, and pet stores will be allowed to sell animals that come from shelters, humane societies and registered rescue groups. Stores found to be selling animals from breeders may face misdemeanor charges and a first-time penalty of $250.
Animal rights activists hailed L.A.’s approval of the ban as a signal to other large cities to follow suit. Irvine, Hermosa Beach and West Hollywood are among the more than 30 cities across the United States and Canada that have passed similar measures in recent years, according to Elizabeth Oreck, who has been leading the legislative effort on behalf of Best Friends Animal Society.
L.A.'s ban also sends a message, she said, to breeders who frequently cut corners to keep costs low at the expense of the animals.
“They’re inbred, they’re overbred, they're irresponsibly bred,” Oreck said.
But pet shop owners complained the ordinance is misguided and unfair.

“It’s just making us suffer,” said Candice Ro, whose family has been selling small dogs, including Yorkshire Terriers and English Bulldogs, at its Koreatown pet shop for 11 years.

Ro said her store, Olympic Pet Shop, buys nearly all of its dogs from local breeders who take good care of their animals. “If we were getting puppy mill puppies that were sick we wouldn’t have stayed in business this long,” she said.

The ban was championed by Councilman Paul Koretz, a longtime supporter of animal rights who said lawmakers have a duty to stick up for animals who “cannot speak for themselves.”

The measure was opposed by Councilman Mitchell Englander, who voted against the ban along with Councilman Bill Rosendahl.

Englander said the city doesn’t have the resources to enforce the law, and said it will put L.A. pet stores at a disadvantage. During economically difficult times like these, he said, government should be focusing on other things.

“With the limited resources we have, we’ve got to focus on the core services,” Englander said.

Because Wednesday's vote was not unanimous, it must come back for a second reading next week.

Familiar spirit       

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A late 16th-century illustration of a witch feeding her familiars from England.

In European folklore and folk-belief of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, familiar spirits (sometimes referred to simply as "familiars" or "animal guides") were supernatural entities believed to assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. According to the records of the time, they would appear in numerous guises, often as an animal, but also at times as a human or humanoid figure, and were described as "clearly defined, three-dimensional… forms, vivid with colour and animated with movement and sound" by those alleging to have come into contact with them, unlike later descriptions of ghosts with their "smoky, undefined form[s]".
When they served witches, they were often thought to be malevolent, while when working for cunning-folk they were often thought of as benevolent (although there was some ambiguity in both cases). The former were often categorised as demons, while the latter were more commonly thought of and described as fairies. The main purpose of familiars is to serve the witch or young witch, providing protection for him/her as they come into their new powers.
Since the 20th century a number of magical practitioners, including adherents of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, have begun to utilise the concept of familiars, due to their association with older forms of magic.

Definitions

Pierre A. Riffard proposed this definition and quotations

A familiar spirit (alter ego, doppelgänger, personal demon, personal totem, spirit companion) is the double, the alter-ego, of an individual. It does not look like the individual concerned. Even though it may have an independent life of its own, it remains closely linked to the individual. The familiar spirit can be an animal (animal companion).

The French poet Charles Baudelaire, a cat fancier, believed in familiar spirits.

It is the familiar spirit of the place;
It judges, presides, inspires Everything in its empire; It is perhaps a fairy or a god? When my eyes, drawn like a magnet To this cat that I love…

A. P. Elkin studied the belief in familiar spirits among the Australian Aborigines:

A usual method, or explanation, is that the medicine man sends his familiar spirit (his assistant totem, spirit-dog, spirit-child or whatever the form may be) to gather the information. While this is occurring, the man himself is in a state of receptivity, in sleep or trance. In modern phraseology [spiritism], his familiar spirit would be the control [control spirit].

Mircea Eliade:

The Goldi [Nanai people in Siberia] clearly distinguish between the tutelary spirit (ayami), which chooses the shaman, and the helping spirits (syven), which are subordinate to it and are granted to the shaman by the ayami itself. According to Sternberg the Goldi explain the relations between the shaman and his ayami by a complex sexual emotion. Here is the report of a Goldi shaman.
"Once I was asleep on my sick-bed, when a spirit approached me. It was a very beautiful woman. Her figure was very slight, she was no more than half an arshin (71 cm.) tall. Her face and attire were quite as those of one of our Gold women… She said: 'I am the ayami of your ancestors, the Shamans. I taught them shamaning. Now I am going to teach you… I love you, I have no husband now, you will be my husband and I shall be a wife unto you. I shall give you assistant spirits. You are to heal with their aid, and I shall teach and help you myself…' Sometimes she comes under the aspect of an old woman, and sometimes under that of a wolf, so she is terrible to look at. Sometimes she comes as a winged tiger… She has given me three assistants-the jarga (the panther), the doonto (the bear) and the amba (the tiger). They come to me in my dreams, and appear whenever I summon them while shamaning. If one of them refuses to come, the ayami makes them obey, but, they say, there are some who do not obey even the ayami. When I am shamaning, the ayami and the assistant spirits are possessing me; whether big or small, they penetrate me, as smoke or vapour would. When the ayami is within me, it is she who speaks through my mouth, and she does everything herself."

Descriptions

Amongst those accused witches and cunning-folk who described their familiar spirits, there were commonly certain unifying features. The historian Emma Wilby noted how the accounts of such familiars were striking for their "ordinariness" and "naturalism", despite the fact that they were dealing with supernatural entities.
Familiar spirits usually had names, and "were often given down-to-earth, and frequently affectionate, nicknames." One example of this was Tom Reid, who was the familiar of the cunning-woman and accused witch Bessie Dunlop, while other examples included Grizell and Gridigut, who were the familiars of 17th century Huntingdonshire witch Jane Wallis.

Relationship between magical practitioner and familiar

Frontispiece from the witch hunter Matthew Hopkins' The Discovery of Witches (1647), showing witches identifying their familiar spirits.

Using her studies into the role of witchcraft and magic in Britain during the Early Modern period as a starting point, the historian Emma Wilby examined the relationship that familiar spirits allegedly had with the witches and cunning-folk in this period.

Meeting

In the British accounts from the Early Modern period at least, there were three main types of encounter narrative related to how a witch or cunning person first met their familiar. The first of these was that the spirit spontaneously appeared in front of the individual while they were going about their daily activities, either in their home or outdoors somewhere. Various examples for this are attested in the sources of the time, for instance, Joan Prentice from Essex, England, gave an account when she was interrogated for witchcraft in 1589 claiming that she was "alone in her chamber, and sitting upon a low stool preparing herself to bedward" when her familiar first appeared to her, while the Cornish cunning-woman Anne Jeffries related in 1645 that hers first appeared to her when she was "knitting in an arbour in our garden".
The second manner in which the familiar spirit commonly appeared to magical practitioners in Britain was that they would be given to a person by a pre-existing individual, who was sometimes a family member and at other times a more powerful spirit. For instance, the alleged witch Margaret Ley from Liverpool claimed, in 1667, that she had been given her familiar spirit by her mother when she died, while the Leicestershire cunning-woman Joan Willimot related, in 1618, that a mysterious figure whom she only referred to as her "master", "willed her to open her mouth and he would blow into her a fairy which should do her good. And that she open her mouth, and that presently after blowing, there came out of her mouth a spirit which stood upon the ground in the shape and form of a woman."
In a number of accounts, the cunning person or witch was experiencing difficulty prior to the appearance of the familiar, who offered to aid them. As historian Emma Wilby noted, "their problems… were primarily rooted in the struggle for physical survival - the lack of food or money, bereavement, sickness, loss of livelihood and so on", and the familiar offered them a way out of this by giving them magical powers.

Working relationship

In some cases, the magical practitioner then made an agreement or entered a pact with their familiar spirit. The length of time that the witch or cunning person worked with their familiar spirit varied between a few weeks through to a number of decades. In most cases, the magical practitioner would conjure their familiar spirit when they needed their assistance, although there are many different ways that they did this: the Essex witch Joan Cunny claimed, in 1589, that she had to kneel down within a circle and pray to dark forces for her familiar to appear while the Wiltshire cunning woman Anne Bodenham described, in 1653, that she conjured her familiars by reading books. In some rarer cases there were accounts where the familiars would appear at times when they were unwanted and not called upon, for instance the Huntingdonshire witch Elizabeth Chandler noted, in 1646, that she could not control when her two familiars, named Beelzebub and Trullibub, appeared to her, and had prayed for a god to "deliver her therefrom".

Travels to Fairyland or the Sabbath

Familiars are most common in western European mythology, with some scholars arguing that familiars are only present in the traditions of Great Britain and France. In these areas three categories of familiars are believed to exist:

• human familiars, throughout Western Europe
• divinatory animals, Great Britain and France
• maleficent animals, only in Greece

Prince Rupert's dog

Prince Rupert and his "familiar" dog in a pamphlet titled "The Cruel Practices of Prince Rupert" (1643).

During the English Civil War, the Royalist general Prince Rupert was in the habit of taking his large poodle dog named Boye into battle with him. Throughout the war the dog was greatly feared among the Parliamentarian forces and credited with supernatural powers. As noted by Morgan, the dog was apparently considered a kind of familiar.

Witch trials

Most data regarding familiars comes from the transcripts of English and Scottish witch trials held during the 16th-17th centuries. The court system that labeled and tried witches was known as the Essex. The Essex trial of Agnes Sampson of Nether Keith, East Lothian in Scotland in 1590, presents prosecution testimony regarding a divinatory familiar. This case is fundamentally political, trying Sampson for high treason, and accusing Sampson for employing witchcraft against King James VI. The prosecution asserts Sampson called familiar spirits and resolved her doubtful matter.
The English court cases reflect a strong relationship between State's accusations of witchcraft against those who practiced ancient indigenous traditions, including the familiar animal or spirit.
In some cases familiars replace children in the favour of their mothers.

"The Love Potion" by Evelyn De Morgan: a witch with a black cat familiar at her feet.

Legacy

Folk tales

Historian Emma Wilby identified recurring motifs in various European folk tales and fairy tales that she believed displayed a belief in familiar spirits. She noted that in such tales as Rumpelstiltskin, Puss-in-Boots and the Frog Prince, the protagonist is approached by a supernatural being when they are in need of aid, something that she connected to the appearance of familiar spirits in the Early Modern accounts of them. She believed there to be a direct connection between the belief in and accounts of familiar spirits with these folk tales because "These fairy stories and myths originate from the same reservoir of folk belief as the descriptions of familiar-encounters given by cunning-folk and witches".

Historiography

Recent scholarship on familiars exhibits the depth and respectability absent from earlier demonological approaches. The study of familiars has grown from an academic topic in folkloric journals to a general topic in popular books and journals incorporating anthropology, history, women’s studies and other disciplines. James Sharpe, in The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: the Western Tradition, states: "Folklorists began their investigations in the 19th Century [and] found that familiars figured prominently in ideas about witchcraft."
In the 19th century, folklorists fired the imagination of scholars who would, in decades to come, write descriptive volumes on witches and familiars. Examples of the growth and development of familiar scholarship are found in Folklore, which consistently contributes articles on traditional beliefs in England and early modern Europe.
In the first decades of the 20th century, familiars are identified as "niggets", which are "creepy-crawly things that witches kept all over them".
Margaret Murray delves into variations of the familiar found in witchcraft practices. Many of the sources she employs are trial records and demonological texts from early to modern England. These include the 1556 Essex Witchcraft Trials of the Witches of Hatfield Perevil, the 1582 Trial of the Witches of St. Osyth, and the 1645 Essex Trials with Matthew Hopkins acting as a Witch-finder. In 1921, Murray published The Witch Cult in Western Europe. Her information concerning familiars comes from witchcraft trials in Essex in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Cat Familiar

The witches familiar is a companion of a witch, they are drawn together as if by a magnet, each intuitively knowing they are meant to be together, they are similar in character as both are astute, wise, and independent. When the witch and cat are at work together the magic pull is extremely powerful and they know instinctively that it is meant to be, a bonding takes place and the two form a lifelong alliance. Cats have a mysterious air about them and have for centuries been linked to all matters occult.

Cat myths first began in ancient Egypt they were worshipped as the embodiment of the gods. the stories of cats soon reached Greece, Asia and the rest of Europe and they became synonymous with witches, though at the time it was thought that the cats were sent by devils to help witches with their evil workings.
You will learn almost everything about magic from talking to your cat and using a cat in your magic will double any spell’s power. If you are speaking secrets you can be utterly certain your familiar will not betray your trust. Cats are creatures of habit, and like the witch they must have their own sacred space where they sleep, dream and eat, the familiar requires a bowl of cream at the same time each day, she also requires a bowl of water per day and the highest quality cat food available, she needs to be crooned to and stroked as she loves attention, except when she needs time alone, then she is to be left to her own devices and her needs must be headed. You will learn a great deal more about magic from a cat than you would from any witch, a witch would sooner turn you into a toad then give you assistance in witchcraft.
When shopping for a cat you must remember that you don’t choose the cat, the cat chooses you. if you wish to take a cat as your familiar, you must ask permission first, they most likely will agree. When a cat enters a new home it will investigate the area to make sure it is safe before getting comfortable, they are resourceful and will quickly adapt their surroundings.
A cat enjoys its own private area with all accoutrements, nice pillow, blanket, bowl and close to a fireplace. Just like people cats like their privacy so keep their litter tray in a private location, they may refuse to use it otherwise. Cats enjoy quality foods and their meals served in the same place and at the same time of day, they are intelligent, so if you try to switch a brand label cat food, for a generic label, the cat will notice and probably refuse to eat it.
A cat will be of great assistance to any witch or wizard as cats themselves are very powerful witches and can perform a variety of spells, they are very intuitive and their sixth sense cannot be matched. A cat will definitely be a lifelong friend, and as a cat is a magical animal, you will always have mystery and magic within your home.
As soon as the witch and her familiar have chosen each other, the cat and witch will choose a magic name for the cat. Cats with their particular magical abilities are invaluable in the making of magic and magic potions. Cats also help with divination and they enjoy working with the energy within a sacred circle.
The witch is able to telepathically communicate with her cat familiar and has trained her cat to be on the alert for earthly visitors and ghosts, and spirits, the cat also alerts the witch to people who are good or bad.
The familiar always travels with the witch on the back of her broomstick. The witch and her familiar become more bonded as time goes by, the cat, from a kitten has a certain air of worldly knowledge and from young is admitted to the witch’s spiritual rituals. Cat familiars always should be thanked for their assistance and given treats for the support and love they offer the witch, the familiar loves catnip.
The cat talks to her witch companion and lets her know what is going on in the outside world, she lets her witch friend know if there are any changes occurring that she should look out for, the cat can also call or chase away unwanted spirits.
The Egyptian goddess Bast is part cat and part human and sacrifices were once made to her to insure her blessings, the remains  of cats that had been mummified thousands of years ago reveal the sacred role that cats played. The cat can be traced back to the Egyptians who treated their cats as sacred creatures..
Whenever we see an image of a witch and her broomstick, her loyal cat companion is always close by, and when a cat is there as a witch is working the spells she is casting are always more powerful. It is important that the personality of the cat matches the personality of the witch, once the familiar is chosen, aside from naming it she places a magic ring of protection around the animal.
Familiars are very loyal and serve their owners well, witches throughout time have had cat familiars and their familiars are always black, the witch and her familiar ( companion ) become very attached to each other and the familiar helps with powerful magic when spells are being cast. If you have forgotten which ingredient to use in a spell because you didn’t write it down, your cat familiar will knowingly move through your herb and plant area and place her paw on the ingredient you need. A witch and her familiar are spiritually bound and have a telepathic connection, a witch’s familiar always knows when there are spirits around, and have no difficulty communing with both worlds. The witch’s familiar is able to guide the witch between two worlds.
Cat familiars are magical beings with supernatural powers and have helped witches for thousands of years. In the mid 1500′s cats were recognized as the archetypal familiar for all witches, it was thought that a witch was able to turn herself into a cat.
When the witch’s familiar grows old and dies, she is able to guide the witch, from her spirit world to find her new familiar, and she watches over the witch and her new companion. Know that when you are looking for a cat familiar your cat will very likely see you before you see it.
Myths, facts and legends about cats
House cats hate lemons or any citrus scent.
A women seeking a husband should own a black cat to keep plenty of suitors by the door.
Washing a cat can be a useful way to use the cats magic to bring rain.
If a cat sneezes or washes behind their ears in means it will rain or the weather will change.
If the cat scratches at furniture storms will be soon.
If you drown a cat, you will fall victim to a drowning.
To kill a cat brings seventeen years of bad luck
To dream of cats means good luck for you and your home.
Seeing many cats in your day is a sign that good fortune awaits you.
A cat has more bones than a human being; humans have 206 and the cat has 230 bones.
Domestic cats can sprint at 31miles an hour.
If you find a white hair on a black cat, this a sign of great luck.
If a cat sleeps with all four paws tucked under this means that cold weather is approaching.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
Tigers have striped skin not just striped fur.
If a black cat walks towards you will have good luck, if the cats walks away from you will have bad luck.
Like humans cats are left or right handed.
Cheetahs are the fastest of all cats.
If a cat scratches behinds its ear, rain is coming.
A cat can see six times better then humans at night
A cat uses its whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through.
If a cat sneezes near a new to be bride she was will live a long and happy life.
Cats step with both left legs then both right legs when they walk or run.
In ancient Egypt when a family cat dies whole families would shave their eyebrows as a sign of morning
Cats will spend 30% of their lives grooming themselves.
Stroking a cats tail will cure you of sore eyes.
Tigers can eat up to 40kg of pray in one sitting.
Cats are very powerful at the art of hypnotism.
Cats are the only domestic animal not mentioned in the bible.
A lions roar can be heard five miles away.
Cheetah is the only cat in the world that can retract its claws.
Cheetahs can go from standing to running 45mph in two seconds.
Dreaming of white cats is good luck

If a black cat appears on your front porch it is a sign of good luck
if you see I one eyed cat, make a wish it will come true
To undo the bad luck from seeing a black cat, walk backwards in a circle and count to 13
Abracadabra

China: Stray cats keep Beijing's Forbidden City clean

Stray cats found in the Forbidden City are neutered then released

Officials at Beijing's Forbidden City have a policy of keeping about 200 cats at the imperial palace complex to keep rats and vermin away from the cultural relics, it's been reported.

While stray cats are an annoyance for residents in the rest of capital, the museum curators have neutered over 180 felines in the last five years, state-owned Xinhua news agency reports. Some of them might even be descendants of royal pets, says museum official Ma Guoqing.

"They are a powerful deterrent to museum rats and we have not found a single piece of cultural relics damaged by cat claws," Ma says. The museum vaccinates the cats, gives them vitamins, and lets them stay inside in cold weather, the People's Daily newspaper reports.

But Ma adds the cats could "pose a threat to visitors, and their excrement is definitely an eyesore". There are about 200,000 stray cats in Beijing, one survey suggests. One female cat giving birth to three or four litters every year could add as many as 100 cats to the stray population in its lifetime, Xinhua reports.

Officials say that the immunisation programme has been cost-effective