Recently I visited a park for big cats, not because I enjoy seeing animals behind bars, but because I had a strong feeling to go there. Something in me wanted to be in their presence and it had been playing on my mind. That was all I was aware of, as I set off.
The friendly receptionist gave me a rundown of the layout of the place and as soon as she mentioned the black leopard, I felt a pull to spend time with him. I knew he would be a sleek and impressive member of the big cats, of the family called Felidae. Lions, jaguars, tigers and leopards are members of the genus, panthera, which is part of the Felidae family.
I took my time visiting each and every cat, saving my time with the black leopard, this black panther ‘til last. I knew I wanted to hang out with him and not hurry. I felt excitement at the prospect of seeing and meeting him, but wanted to see how the other big cats were too.
I recalled an experience I had many years ago, when I attended a workshop and we had opportunity to meet our power animals. I offer a brief explanation here – a power animal may be described as an animal that someone feels or recognises a connection with, a connection that may be related to the traits or qualities of that animal. These qualities can be called upon in times of need to help the person. There may be an actual physical encounter or equally a metaphysical (outside of the physical) encounter. In the experience I had, a large black panther came out of the darkness towards me, leaping up in front of me. There was no fear in me even though it was as real as an experience could be, without actually being in the physical. Maybe that was part of my pull to the black cat at the park.
This beautiful leopard with his shiny coat, his slow and deliberate movement had a memorable effect on me. I was in awe of him, but couldn’t help but notice and feel, that his strength and potential to express who he is, was very restricted by the size of his cage and its surrounding fence which also stretched overhead.
After he had spent some time pacing backwards and forwards, placing his paws exactly and precisely in the known path of the platform, he walked along a pole before stepping onto a hanging structure that was like a “bed”. His green/yellow eyes looked at me briefly before he lay down with his head hanging, off the end of the ”bed” slightly. He stretched out on his side, appearing both resigned and accepting.
I stayed a while speaking gently to him. When it felt time to go, I left reluctantly, taking my sense of his presence with me. I felt honoured to have met him. What I had seen was a mixture of beauty and grace, stress and sadness mixed with surrender and acceptance. I wondered how he would look and express his strength and potential given the chance to be more than a caged animal. Even in his confinement, you could sense his power. His presence was undeniable.
I am sure there is every intention to give him a bigger and more interesting space in which to live, but nevertheless, this leopard, like so many animals, is destined to live the rest of his life restricted in a small area because of human actions.
Big cats, elephants and other wild animals are hunted illegally for what their body parts offer and even just to be stuffed and nailed to a wall or skinned to lay on the floor for someone to walk over. And for this reason, as well as that of habitat loss, many animal populations are becoming smaller or extinct. Wildlife sanctuaries, parks or zoos, potentially offer safety and protection. In this way, we can hopefully provide our animal kin with the next best thing to a life, that is as close to their natural environment as possible. Of course, this is not always achieved for many reasons, but it is easy to see some of the rationale for attempting to do so. Even in protected natural environments, some animals are not safe from poachers. Some of the large parks have courageous people working to protect the wildlife from those who would harm them.
Anyway, I have gone off on a tangent about the subject of captivity where there will be many differing views and situations. In regards to my visit to this park, was my question to myself “what might I learn in such a brief moment in time, from sharing the company of this solitary being, whose origins are from the wild?” He has never known a wild existence, but he will always carry the wild within. The message I received from the black leopard was to find my own inner peace, to free my own mind of the restrictions, to learn to be okay where I am. It was a message about self-expression, surrender and about being all I can be wherever I am.
I recognised my own inner torment as well as that of both animals and other people, in situations out of their/our control. I felt I owed it to the black leopard to not only make good of my own scenario, but also to recognise that wild part in me that will not be tamed.