Duma - October Update

Beautiful Duma has been rather elusive recently as she is on heat again and rarely comes for food when called. This is normal for big female cats when they're on heat - maybe they're looking after their figures!

However, a few weeks ago when she still had her healthy appetite, she was treated to an exotic lunch - a secretary bird. The unfortunate bird had become caught in the wires on our border fence and we discovered her on our daily border patrols.It appeared that the bird must have been trying to cross through the fenceline. We're not sure why such an intelligent bird should attempt this difficult route and sadly she was no longer alive when we found her.

Following the circle of life, we removed the secretary bird and gave her to Duma as a special treat. Normally we feed Duma game, poultry, horse or donkey so a secretary bird is a real speciality for her and she enjoyed every minute of it!

Duma continues to flirt with Ombeli in the camp next to hers, particularly so while she's on heat. She rubs up against the fence seperating the two enclosure which certainly gets his attention. Ombeli does nothing to rebuke the playfulness and seems to show an equal amount of interest in our beautiful female leopard.