Wen Road Angel
In today's cat slave world, almost no one can escape the temptation of cats. Victoria, who lives in Siberia, Russia, is also a veteran cat slave, but her cat is a bit large, in fact, it is a black panther. In Victoria and The Panther's daily relationship, we often forget that it is really a beast, not a cute pet.
The story of Victoria and the Little Panther is about to begin.
In May 2020, at a zoo in Siberia, Russia, Victoria met a baby panther for the first time.
It was so weak that it could hardly move, and its eyes were full of confusion. A week earlier, it had been born with a group of leopard siblings. But when the female leopard lovingly licked the wet leopard with her tongue, she only pushed the little panther aside and refused to feed it.
The female leopard rejects the baby panther for a reason, compared to the golden fur and leopard prints of other siblings, it is black. The black panther is not a breed, but the product of a genetic mutation.
Scholars use a small black panther in a cat litter box.
Without breast milk to provide the nutrients it needs, the little black panther is getting weaker and weaker. In a hurry, the zoo asked Victoria for help raising them, after 12 years of experience in keeping big cats.
After 3 months, the little black panther slowly came to life, thinking of its tragic life, Victoria decided to buy the little black panther home and gave her a nice name: Luna, which means moon.
Victoria remembers the scene when she first brought the little panther home. At that time, it was still confused and did not know what was happening, but the family dog Wenya saw the little black panther as it was.
When they first met, Wen Ya wanted to get together and kiss Luna, but she couldn't stop them.
This is the magical encounter in the life of the little black panther, after birth, it lost a mother with golden fur, but welcomed a cross-species dry mother with black fur.
Victoria said that the first time the dog Wenya saw Luna the little black panther, she began to flood with maternal love, constantly licking it with her tongue, just like a baby.
Originally, Victoria was also worried that two completely different species would repel each other, but she did not expect that Wenya would treat Luna as a puppy, and as long as she could not see Luna, she would hum and look around. What's even more amazing is that Victoria found that Luna the Little Panther also gradually regarded Wenya as the closest animal companion, and always liked to rub it next to Wenya.
By completely cutting off breastfeeding, the baby panther's nutritional source became a problem. Victoria, who has more than a decade of experience in the domestication of cats, tried to prepare a special milk powder for Luna to ensure the protein and vitamins needed for leopard growth.
Fortunately, little Luna grew up day by day, and under Victoria's meticulous care and the gentle care of the dog, she seemed to completely forget that she was a child abandoned by her mother.
After Luna's video was posted on the Internet, many unknown netizens could not believe that this was really a beast, not a cute pet. Victoria said, "Luna is a 'provocative leopard', very timid, and when she meets strangers, she will want to hide or even run away." But if a stranger appeared on its turf, Luna, though a little unhappy, would look into Victoria's eyes to keep herself calm.
In many videos, Victoria always touches Luna's chin with her hand, sometimes touching its head in the direction of its hair, while Luna shows a look of enjoyment, no different from a cat. Victoria explains, "All furry animals love to be caressed, and the little black panther is no exception.".
In addition, some of the habits of the cat people, Luna also has. For example, it sleeps 15 hours a day; it loves to be clean, and every day it uses its tongue to clean its paws and fur.
But Victoria explains: "If you think Luna is a gentle marshmallow, you're wrong. Luna is a 'girl' with a personality, from the moment she opens her eyes every day, she begins to jump around and scratch lively, likes to run around, and it only does what she likes to do. ”
Luna who didn't want to go home.
Many people also worry that as Luna gets bigger, will her "wildness" be revived? Does it pose a security threat to people? Victoria didn't have that worry, she said, and the little leopard was so clever that it couldn't speak, but it could read people's emotions. From the 7th day of the baby panther's birth, Victoria spent almost all day and night with it, and the little black panther had already regarded her as a relative.
This also benefited from Victoria's scientific upbringing. From the beginning, Victoria insisted on feeding Luna herself on a regular basis. Years of experience had taught her that it was to prevent herself from being seen as a competitor by Luna—the competition for survival was written first in the animal's genes.
The small act of feeding allows Luna to cultivate Victoria's trust by treating her as a good friend.
In addition, Victoria is also deliberately training Luna's patience and attention, although Luna lives with humans and does not have to consider survival issues, Victoria tries her best to restore the living environment and "education" that a leopard should have.
Victoria is "educating" Luna.
The same is true in terms of food. Victoria often exchanges experiences with veterinarians and feral cat keepers at different zoos to restore the most natural "food" for leopards. They concluded that luna had to be fed the whole animal from time to time, and that the nutrients in the guts, bones, wool, and feathers were essential for wild predatory cats.
This is the principle of Victorian domestication, not to alienate them.
Luna is happy living in the human world. Winters in Siberia are long, and rolling and running in the snow-covered forests has become Luna and Gente's best pastime. Sometimes, one of them would bury his head in the snow, while the other would frantically pull the other out with his paws.
Victoria was touched by the friendship between the two big animals: "They are so different, with completely different interests, Luna is full of curiosity, likes to run around, climb trees, grab things, elegant but lazy, likes to sleep, but they can always get along very comfortably." 」 ”
Their emotional exchange is to lick each other.
Victoria shared the life of "three people" with each other on the Internet, but people on social networks often asked Little Panther what to do in the future.
Victoria has thought about this many times, too. Since Luna is a genetically mutated leopard that requires special care for her bodily functions, it is unlikely that she will be released into the wild; Victoria has also thought about sending Luna back to the zoo, and she is still in discussion with her friends.
The best way is to create good living conditions for the growth of the little black panther, so that it can live happily here.
Today, they have experienced 15 months of getting along day and night, and the baby leopard has grown from less than 400 grams to 28 kilograms now, becoming an adult "leopard girl".
Victoria said that in any case, Luna was not only a pet, but also a part of her heart.
(All pictures in the article are from Victoria Ins account: luna_the_pantera)