Tribute to Natasha the Siberian Lynx

Natasha Siberian Lynx   http://bigcatrescue.org/natasha/

 

Natasha was rescued when she was only 4 months old from a fur farm in 1993. She would have been killed and made into a coat in 1994 but instead lived out the next 21 years at Big Cat Rescue. Here she was raised with Alexander the hybrid Lynx and Willow, another Siberian Lynx, who was also rescued from being slaughtered for her fur. They quickly outgrew Alex, but Natasha and Willow were lifelong pals until Willow died in 2013.

 

Losing her companion was hard for Natasha, but Keepers did all they could to fill the void. She was visited often and given special attention via operant and enrichment sessions with her.   As she aged she spent most of her time napping in the sun.

 

In 2014, when she began gagging on her food, we examined her and saw there was a tumor growing in her throat. It was cancerous so we called on an expert, Dr. Kane who made house calls to inject the tumor with chemo. By coming to Natasha he spared her the stress of riding to a clinic and reduced the handling time considerably for her.

 

Natasha had two injections over the past couple of months, but was declining in health. All of her meals were being cut into bites the size of chickpeas, and fed to her on a stick, two or three times a day, but it was getting harder and harder for her to swallow. We called Dr. Kane again and told him we were going to X-ray Natasha and take another look down her throat. He would be there to give the injection again, if there were any chance of improvement, but we all gathered solemnly because we were pretty sure that this was going to be the end for our dear Natasha.

 

When Dr. Kane shined the light down her throat he could see that the treatments were not working and that her laryngeal folds were decaying from the aggressive tumor. These folds are what keep you from choking when you swallow and hers were paralyzed and rotting. There was no way to fix this so we said our goodbyes to Natasha and Dr. Justin and Dr. Wynn eased her over to the other side.

 

Now she and Willow are together again and I can just picture them gently comforting each other.  If you could hear them, I believe they would be comforting you as well.  They would be thanking you, not only for their rescue from the cruel fur industry, and not only for what you did to make their lives in captivity bearable but also for all that you are doing to end the trade in wild cats.

 

The fur farm rescue of 1993 was more than 21 years ago and of the 56 Bobcats and Lynx who were rescued that year, only Raindance and Little Dove survive. Their lives, and the millions of animals you never met,  will not have been in vain if we can end the fur trade. You can help by never passing up an opportunity to express your disgust to retailers who sell fur coats. Just ask to see the manager and tell them you are offended by such products.  If enough of us reach beyond our comfort zone and politely speak up, we have the power to end the trade.

 

Photo circa 1990’s.  We do not display photos of people touching cats after 2004.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

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