Grosses In Guatemala: Lion Sanctuary

We visited a lion sanctuary, Ukutula Lion Lodge. It is owned by some friends of Francois' who are also Jehovah's Witnesses. They welcomed us and gave us some extra tours and a lovely lunch!

Lots of interesting facts. They said that actually, there are no lions in all of Africa that are truly free in the wild. The ones that do roam are inside Kruger Park or other enclosures. And, we learned that 85% of lions in Africa have tuberculosis which weakens them, then many get feline AIDS. All animals here are disease-free. This sanctuary hosts a lot of research, and get volunteers as research assistants from all over the world.

Bill had given Francois his Guatemalan outfit that he brought for the convention, so he wore it to the lion sanctuary.

Dan Bell, Francois, and one of the owners
of the lion sanctuary

We got to see some cats:

This one (I can't recall what it's called!). They actually kill for fun in the wild, so farmers hate them and kill them, so they're on the endangered species list. They don't need to drink but every couple days since they get their liquid from food. Their large ears, and hair on the ears, permit them to hear animals from 2 kilometers away, and know the size of the animal from the sound they hear.

They have a number of white lions, but these are not albino. These white lions have a recessive gene for their color. The caretakers feed their lions once week, some large animal like a cow or horse that has died. They have implanted some birth control in the females to reduce the number of babies.

This is a baby cheetah. We got to pet the baby - and it purred! (All the animals here are kept for research, or, are sold to zoos or other research facilities, so human interaction is not a danger for them. They will not be released into the wild.)

Mama cheetah.

Tiger:

Tiger

We were invited to stay for lunch. Since we had been delegates at the convention, we got VIP treatment! What a treat!

In the afternoon, we got to go on a "lion walk". Two lions were pulled out of an enclosure, and walked in front of us ... with two handlers in front of course! Every little bit, they would stop and talk about lions, and the lions were used to each stop to wait for some chicken they would feed them. Before the walk, they told us that if any chicken accidentally lands close to us, do NOT freak out or scream or run since then we'd look like game (=food), just stand still. If we happen to drop something, do not lean down to pick it up or else you'll look small and look like game to them. And they gave each of us a walking stick and said if anything happens, put the stick firmly in front of us; the lions are trained to view that as a sign to stop. And I got to take the walking stick home!