The staff at Naini Tal Zoo had clearly attempted to provide at least some animals with reasonable living conditions (the tiger; the snow leopards, for example). But seven leopards in a cage roughly the area of a tennis court...
In December 2006, shortly after I left the Garhwal region of the Indian Himalaya, three young girls were killed and eaten by leopards (probably the same animal) within a week or so. I'd believed man-eating leopards could now be found only in the pages of books like those of Jim Corbett. I was wrong.
All content © 2008 Pete McGregor
I love how tight this shot is, and in particular the tufts of fur and folds in the animal's neck are very exciting and satisfying somehow. As for the back story -- I don't suppose we will ever get it right with animals.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emma. I did want to get away from the usual snarling leopard shot (I had plenty of those anyway). Sometimes, showing less reveals more.
ReplyDeleteI hate the way we don't respect the beauty and integrity of these animals - and yet here am I, on my blog, killing tiny, harmless, beautiful mice.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Frances. We confine leopards in zoos to gawk at for our own enjoyment; in many respects that seems to me far more open to criticism than the sometimes necessary killing of mice in a home (they can be far from harmless). I often wonder whether there's any sound basis for preferring one animal over another — leopards over mice, mice over ants, ants over nematodes, for example. Is it a matter of the degree of self-awareness; could there be some other rationally defensible argument; or, are our preferences simply human bias?
ReplyDeleteI partly recall a quote, PP, that we must assume that everything has a life which is of value to it...but, it's harder to acknowlege that about nematodes, true enough.
ReplyDeleteFrances, yes — it becomes even harder when thinking about organisms like Guinea worm.
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