Our latest newcomers – Sheba, Jack & Jill
Pumba Game Reserve is nursing three orphaned wild cat cubs – a lioness and two caracals!
Baby lioness Sheba arrived at her new home after her heavily pregnant mother was inadvertently captured by a game relocation team performing an operation in the Eastern Cape. The lioness gave birth to 3 cubs in the relocation boma of which two died and the third being abandoned. Pumba Game Reserve were approached by the game capture team to enquire whether we were prepared to take the new born lioness into our Rehabilitation Center. We accepted the challenge on condition that the little lioness was to be fully adopted by us to try and save and if successful to rehabilitate her over the next 18 months with the objective of releasing her back into the wild to join up with the existing Pumba prides of lion.
We are proud to report that baby Sheba has showed a fighting survival spirit and has got through the critical period. The 1kg bundle of fur now weighs 4 kg’s and will be 5 weeks old on the 1st of April 2010. Her eyes are fully open and she has started walking.
Two days after receiving the baby lioness, we got another call – this time the sad story was that a pack of hunting dogs killed a female Caracal and the huntsmen discovered two tiny Caracal cubs of a day or two old in the den which were now left without their mother.
The huntsman saved the two little cubs from the hunting dogs, and being aware of our Rehabilitation Center called to ask whether we were prepared to accept the two little cubs. This opportunity seemed to be so coincidental with getting the lioness a few days earlier, that we immediately accepted as now we would have company for the lioness and each other as they grow up.
The two caracals have also proved to be little survivors and we named them Jack and Jill.
We are extremely confident that these three young cats will be able to be reintroduced into their natural environment to live the life that they were never destined to lead.
