Tribute to Shaquile the Leopard

Date is approximated.  DOB 1991-2008

 

Shaq arrived at Big Cat Rescue on 3/4/96. He is retired from a nightclub act in Las Vegas. He arrived with a cougar whose face and head had been so severely beaten that she arrived with an infection in her brain from the open wounds and has since died.  We were told that Shaq's former owner beat him to the point that the skull around his eyes has been so badly damaged that the eyelids roll in, causing his eyes to tear a lot.  Perhaps they are tears for all of his kindred spirits who are still made to perform for man's entertainment.

 

It is understandable that he hates most men.  His memory of the abuse he endured still lingers.  But, the female volunteers all go out of their way to give Shaq extra special attention, to speak gently and softly with him and it is heartwarming to hear him purring and rubbing up against the cage affectionately in return.  He loves the comfort and attention we lavish on him and will roll over and play with his ball and bat it around his cat-a-tat as long as you’ll stay and watch him.  We are so incredibly happy that we have been able to provide a nurturing home for him where he can feel safe and loved by all. He will always have a home here, no longer forced to endure abuse at the hand of man!

 

THE DAY HE DIED

 

Tears dropped down onto his lifeless form from the eyes of those who had gathered around Shaq to ease him over to the other side.  His black spotted fur, dappled by the afternoon sun, glistened but no longer gave rise and fall to his sedated breathing.  His 17 year prison sentence ended today.

 

We were remembering the proud, fearless leopard and how he had touched all of our lives with his strength to overcome the awful lot he had been dealt.  Shaq had been born in a cage.  He was bred to be used in a nightclub act by a trainer who made his living from the suffering of many big cats.  As long as people would pay to see big cats doing stupid pet tricks he could count on a good living by providing the disposable product of the trade; young, compliant felines.

 

Cubs live with their mothers for the first few years, so breeders pull the cubs before their eyes open and bottle raise them to be completely dependent and subservient to their human master.  By the time the cats are a year old, they are nearly full sized; appearing to be adults, but still mentally kittens.  The crowd is wowed by the mastery of the trainer over what they think to be a full-grown and fully intact lion, tiger or leopard.  Usually they are declawed, defanged cubs who have been beaten into submission repeatedly behind the scenes.

 

A well-known tiger tamer boasted to me that the way you teach a big cat “who is boss” is to chain them to a wall and beat them with a whip, standing just out of reach.  After a while the cat learns that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot retaliate and after a while gives up hope.  His spirit dies and he is considered tamed or trained.  The training goes on behind locked doors because the public would never support these wild animal acts if they knew the truth.

 

The trainers all claim that they only use “positive reinforcement” and when in front of the public they do, but the cats are ever reminded of the brutal force that will be used against them if they fail to comply.  Sometimes it is in the carrying of a whip, which the trainer will defend as only being a guide, and sometimes it is in the verbal threats using words that only the cats in the ring can hear.  It can be as subtle as a look (remember how your mom could do that?) or a gesture that the cat associates with pain.

 

At Big Cat Rescue we use positive reinforcement or operant conditioning as it is often called as a way to keep the cats’ minds stimulated and to assist us in their care and it works… when the cat wants it to work.  This sort of training involves rewarding the cat with a little cube of meat for doing something we need them to do, like