In November, the weather was perfect. The CARE cats agreed.

The cubs were 7-months old and HUGE compared to July! I couldn’t believe how much they had grown. They looked much more like adults than babies, but they were still very young at heart. They have two settings: playing and sleeping! I took a thousand pictures of them roughhousing with each other and a few of them trying to balance on a big red ball.

Here is Akari. We had several wonderful games of hide and seek!!! Here she is hiding from me.

Here she is charging out to “find” me!

Here she is panting and tired after many attacks. I just love this cat.

Click on photos to enlarge them.

Here is Layla. What a beauty. She has been at CARE since she was a cub. Her enclosure is beside Akari’s and sometimes I would see these two playing. She also likes rubbing heads with her two tiger roommates, Sydney and Rasa.

Here is a picture of Layla trying to knock over her water bucket! Layla and I played chase around her enclosure quite a bit. She would stare at me as I walked by, then if I started to jog, she’d leap down from her perch and chase me down. Then as I walked, she’d follow me. If I started to run, she would run. It was a blast. It proved to me I would have no chance to outrun a lion in the wild.

Here’s a photogenic leopard striking a pose. In the summer, these leopards must be grateful for the covering which shields them from the scorching sun.

I also spent time admiring the black leopards and scratching Eerie and Raven through their chain link (with permission). Here is the best photo of Raven that I could get.

Eerie and Raven both seemed to really enjoy getting scratched. Raven would stretch out and groan and purr. Actually, apparently leopards don’t technically “purr” the way some other cats do, but emit a purr-like noise. This is my favorite leopard photo from my visit, which I think captures their unique profile and grace.

This trip I seemed to catch a lot of cats sleeping in cute or funny positions.

Sampson, the Center’s lion, was moved to a different enclosure since my last visit. Instead of a tiger roommate, he now lives with a senior lioness. The two are doing well together.

Sampson’s former roommate is glad he’s gone—no offense—because he was a little domineering. She also has a new cave from which she can enjoy long views of the Texas prairie.

There’s a lot of work to be done in caring for 50+ big cats, and some of it is smelly! Like cleaning out their enclosures.

In case you’re wondering what it looks like out here in TX, here are some photos I took while driving around in the obligatory gigantic pickup truck. CARE is surrounded by empty grasslands and ranches. You can see for miles in every direction.

I hope you'll consider visiting or even sponsoring one of these wonderful cats. Also look into their “Wild At Heart” weekends, which run the first and third weekends of each month, March thru May. CARE is a small facility that needs our help to keep giving sanctuary to these precious animals. Layla is still in need of a sponsor and so are many others. Contact genv@littlelotushearts.com if you would like to help CARE. You can also visit their website at http://www.bigcatcare.org

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