Damien's CIWY Experience

Hi it's me. So on arriving at the park there was a little bit of confusion on which animal I would be assigned to, one volunteerI had spoken earlier in the day told me that sonko would be needing someone to walk him which to me sounded fine, because I had looked forward walking a puma.

But then whilst talking to sarah the volunteer coordinator it was decided that I would be working with balu a one hundred and twenty kilo spectacle bear which had me nervous and excited but mostly nervous . But after a short while it was decided Luna was more in need of a handler, so that was day one

Luna is still a young puma at less than two years of age, but her size will not change a lot from now. She is basically fully grown apart for some filling out. Luna came to the park as very mal nourished three month old after her mother had been killed by hunters and they were trying to sell her on the black market animal trade. Unfortunately due to being taken away from her mother at such a young age and not receiving a correct nutrients and amino acids in her infant stages Luna's eyes did not develop correctly and now she suffers from fifty percent loss in her left eye and twenty percent loss in the right. But aside from this Luna is a perfectly normal young puma who on our arrival to the park had not reached puberty. The guy who I replaced (thys from Holland) had been on all accounts an amazing volunteer and even taken the time to teach her to swim

The first time I saw Luna I was amazed ,tom took her out of her cage and she walked straight toward me rubbing the entire length of her body against my legs and purring like an over grown kitten and from that moment I knew we were going to get along fine

For the first few weeks I was simply a leash attendant to Luna and it seemed to make little difference to her if I was there or not she defiantly showed a lot more affection to tom .I had to learn the hard way that you can't really out fight a puma and that pushing back just makes it more fun for the cat and only make them fight back harder, on one such learning experience Luna was simply licking the bare skin on my arm which was fine for a while but if you have felt how rough the tongue of a house cat can be, now multiply that a hundred times or so and you will be getting close, so as you can imagine it can become painful as your skin starts to redden. So naturally I gently pushed Luna away but she was having a great time licking the salt (and skin)from my arm and grabbed it with both paws so a little less gently this time I pushed her away again, on her return this time it was both paws with claws witch made it a little more difficultbut I did manage to push her off a small ledge on the trail and get to a safe place out of her reach .this small altercation was all Luna needed to see me as a great game and the jumps just kept coming. It was a few days before it became a little too serious with the back of my neck becoming her favourite target (or the top of my head if the neck was not available) and I had to do something. Now there is not a lot you can do when a puma decides you are a toy, except stay as still as possible and act board until the cat realises that a tree or any other inanimate object can be just as much fun!!!!

So after a week or so of acting tree with a puma chewing the back of my sore bruised neck things settled down and we became close friends

.

Tom (also from Holland) and I worked together for three weeks. Tom is not a big talker a bit like myself which made for some amazingly peaceful lunch breaks were we would sit beside a small bubbling creek and read or just nap while Luna rested before her afternoon walk back the cage.

Tom was replaced by josh (a kiwi) who had not heard off the park before he and his friend (Dan) (an aussie) were droped acroos the road by the bus (as all bus drivers droping greengos in villa tunarie assume they are heading to the park to volunteer) and were quickly roped in by bec with offers of working with pumas.

As with me josh had some altercations with Luna as well and despite my advice he couldn't bring himself to wear long pants as a result he now has quite a few claw scares on the back of both of his calves.

I also worked with josh for three weeks as he had to leave a little earlier than the standard one month required for cat volunteers dew to work commitments. This mint that my replacement became joshes replacement and I would be sticking around a little longer with Princess Luna.

One the most member able moments with Luna happened while working with josh. On one fine afternoon we arrived back to Luna's cage a little after four in the afternoon and as the main rule with the cats at the park is not to feed them before four thirty we put her on the runner and sat down to wait. Nothing out of the usual really until four thirty came and walked over to take Luna into the cage for the evening. Joshed to my surprise was taking his time and even more surprising was when he called over to me and said(in kiwi )she's not ere ay bro!!.

My heart sank and my stomach churned not so much about the fact that somewhere close by was a puma roaming free in the jungle but more that I was scared of the trouble I would be in for setting her free (the problem was simply a dodgy carribena that I should have replaced the day before)it didn't take a lot of time to find Luna in what seemed like a short game of Marco polo(me being Marco and Luna being polo)as I could hear her meowingnearby but for the life of I could not see her. As the meows became softer and I figured I had gone past her.Josh who was walking a little more tentatively and a little way behind me calls to me again "I think she's up this tree hey bro!!!" So sure enough up the tree she was, but not in the tree more like on top of it on kind of a vine hamock.and peeking down at us with a huge grin on her pretty face . So how do you get a kitten out of a tree?

With food of course, we put her food out in the cage and wait was the plan. (But sometimes Luna doesn't eat for two days without a problem so our first plan didn't work at all!

Plan B, climb the tree re attach the lead and wait for her to come down. Luna was enjoying her view and the freedom so our second plan didn't work either

Plan C, join on a longer piece of rope and gently from the ground guide her down. This seemed to be working until Luna found she could get some purchase on the branches and didn't have to come down if she didn't want to!

As it had started to become dark and people would be alerted to what was happening if we did not return before six pm I asked josh to head down to the cafe and find bec or matt and tell them what the problem was but to keep it quite as not to alert the cat coordinator (the very annoying Tory) while I stayed and tried my best to talk the princess down.

On Josh, and matt's return I was still in the same place clinging to the tree with my thighs about ten metres or so from the ground holding the lead and begging Luna that it's time to come down now pretty girl

I climbed down to give matt an update on things not much more than josh had told him (Luna is up a tree and we can't get her down ay bro!!!!)

To the reply well one of us will have to go up and get her down!!!!!

Okay I said witch one of us did you have in mind? Me or you

Short silence

Okay I will go I guess she is my cat after all

So matt and josh safely on the ground and me within inches of a not so happy puma matt yells up to me this we are gunna do! Josh and I will pull on the rope while take her paws from the branch and let her climb down over you! Great idea matt, how bout no way!!

And to my relieve Luna was having no part of that either

Plan d,matt you climb up that close by tree and I will pass you the lead then I can grab Luna by the tail so she will fall and you can lower her down to the ground then josh can grab the lead and bobs your uncle

Plan d worked a treat except the close by tree witch matt had to climb was full of pissed of little ants that really liked his long curly locks and he was still pickingthe little b*****s out the next morning!!

We arrived down at the cafe a little after seven thirty told everyone not to panic crisis averted

All I received in reply was blank looks and what are you talking about stares I turned to josh and winked nice job!

Now I was thinking that Luna would really hate ma after what had happened and I was seriously worried that things would be tense between us from now on but to my surprise it was just the opposite. it may have been because I was still with her after the normal one month that most other volunteers would stay or the combination this and going through a traumatic experience together whatever it was Luna became very affectionate with me and it was not un common for her to sit on my lap at times during the day for a pat and I could pick her up in my arms and carry her when need be without any problem!

Bring on Christophe the girly German with pencil legs. What a lesson in patience out the window goes the peaceful lunch breaks and in the doors comes the questions. (oh and excuses for unfitness. such as the altitude (1500 metres)when poor diet such as picking all the salad from a egg salad sandwich before eating it or smoking at least a pack of cigarettes per daywas the obvious answer) I must admit Christophe was not a bad person or volunteer but the day he thought he would not be able to walk back to the cage (or cafe for that matter) without help because he couldn't feel anything in his left foot after being bitten by a sand fly almost had me in tears. After an hour of moaning and searching in his bag for pain killers the pain subsided (Christophe's pain at least) and the feeling returned to his foot and he made it back unassisted. The next cat volunteer to be my replacement would be Adriana (a crazy Swiss girl who had previously be to the park twice before and once asked not to return) but as a simple sinus infection was enough to drop the pencil leg for two weeks despite two courses of antibiotics, again I would be sticking around a little longer with my pretty kitty

Christophe recovered from his life threatening illness just in time to spend a day or two with his replacement, the French pot head Felix

And apart from a few fill in days and some training of new volunteers that is about it for my amazing experience with Luna the now adolescent beautiful young puma.