A Most Sad Thing

While watching TV last evening I came across an animal show that captivated me. It was about big cats. A journalist was traveling with a couple living in Africa who had devoted their lives the preservation of lions and tigers.She was out in the bush with them.

If you follow this blog you know I am most impressed with the National Tiger Sanctuary in Missouri. That's probably what made me pause at this TV program.

During the program one of the lion's gave birth to triplets. Lions and tigers make very good parents, playing with their offspring, making sure they are fed and kept clean and learn the things important to survival.

Unfortunately one of these curious small cubs wandered into a small stream and was immediately grabbed by a huge crocodile. The circle of life.

If that weren't bad enough a second cub got into the way of a gnu stampede and got stepped on. His back legs were crushed. For a few days he dragged himself along with his front paws but did not have the strength to sustain that movement. His mother tried to pick him up in her mouth and carry him along but the cub could not assist her in any way and the mother was forced to place him back on the ground.

They were both helpless.

For a long time the mother tiger looked down at her cub, leaned down and  licked the top of his head. The cub mewed a hopeless moan. The mother paused then took a few steps away from the cub and sat down facing away. She looked back over her shoulder at her cub and back toward the camera. She blinked a long, slow blink and swallowed hard. She arose and slowly walked away never looking back. You could hear the cub mewing in the background.

I was in tears.

And that's what I think about it.