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NEWS
| October 30, 2003
A
Wild Haven
Students work with wild and endangered
felines in a sanctuary near Boyd.
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| The Shorthorn: Mark Roberts |
| Environmental biology senior Janelle
Lemke, left, interns at the International Exotic Feline
Sanctuary. Biology graduate student Karyn Brice, right,
is a volunteer at the 40-acre refuge. The sanctuary, which
offers tours on weekends, houses 66 cats of 15 species
that have been abandoned or donated. |
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By Crystal
Apodaca
The Shorthorn staff
It’s 6 a.m. Saturday, and rather than hit the snooze button
on her alarm, Janelle Lemke begins a 40-minute drive.
A stretch of State Highway 114 brings the environmental biology
senior just east of Boyd, where some of the rarest animals in the
world await her.
Lemke is conducting a semester-long internship at a refuge for exotic
cats where she works with 66 wild and endangered felines. She and
Karyn Brice, a biology graduate student and volunteer, have been
coming to the International Exotic Feline Sanctuary since summer
to study the cats’ behavior. Within the confines of the sanctuary
reside 15 species of cats ranging from bobcats and jaguars to the
nearly extinct clouded leopard.
The two students are enrolled in an animal behavior class psychology
professor Roger Melgren teaches but met through their involvement
at the sanctuary. Rather than learning strictly from books and lectures,
the students experience animal behavior up close at the sanctuary.
Lemke begins her days feeding the cats — each with its own
dietary needs. The cats are fed portions of chicken and beef depending
on weight, age and the season.
Lemke laughs after picking up a metal bowl with holes chewed through
it.
“You also have to remember which cats can’t be given
bowls,” she said.
Despite having the strength to chew through a stainless steel bowl,
the poor nutrition some of cats received before requires them to
be medicated for the rest of their lives. Woofers is a tiger that
was brought to the sanctuary after a drug raid in Houston.
“She came with to the sanctuary with a case of rickets, a
fused spine and bad teeth and receives medicine every day,”
Lemke said. Woofers is not the only cat at the sanctuary with an
unusual story, as most have had rocky beginnings.
Lexus, an adult lion, was found chained to a radiator in Detroit.
Three tigers, Barnun, Big John and Isabella, were rescued from a
Spanish circus. Two sibling tigers, Raja and Ronnie, were obtained
from a drug bust in Wise County, Lemke said.
Rhino, a male lion, came from owners who
knew nothing about caring for an exotic cat.
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| The Shorthorn: Mark Roberts |
| Environmental biology senior Janelle
Lemke, left, and biology graduate student Karyn Brice
hold up pans used to feed exotic cats. Occasionally, the
animals mistake their food pans for toys, they said. |
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“A boy’s parents bought the
lion as a present and had the cat neutered too young. Hormonal imbalances
have caused the cat to be about 300 pounds overweight, and he never
grew a mane,” Lemke said.
The sanctuary works to gaining physical
and emotional stability for the cats that come from detrimental
situations in private hands.
“The goal of the sanctuary is to provide the best possible
life with the least amount of stress,” Lemke said. Tours are
given only on the weekends to keep the cats from being constantly
agitated, Brice said.
Some of the cats distrust humans and are not bothered much, she
added.
“Many of these cats came from people who owned them before
and had no idea how to properly care for them,” she said.
Many people want exotic cats because they are cute as cubs, Lemke
said. But as the cats get bigger they realize keeping one isn’t
a good idea, she said.
Brice said officials estimate more exotic cats live in captivity
than in the wild. Animal behaviorist Louis Dorfman, who spends three
days a week at the sanctuary, stresses that these are wild animals
that cannot be domesticated, even if they are obtained as cubs.
“Many of the cats on the premises had bad experiences with
humans and have little trust,” Dorfman said.
With time, he has gained the trust of many of the cats — on
occasion he can even be found taking a nap with them.
Lemke is not sure if she will ever gain the full trust of the cats
but plans to continue to improve their lives. Her 12-week internship
will end in November.
“I am really grateful I get a chance to conduct an internship
at a place that ties in so nicely with what we’re studying,”
said Lemke. “I really love coming out here and definitely
plan on returning and volunteering when my time is through.”
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