Wild Cat Wednesday

 

          Do you ever wonder what Snow Leopards do during the day?  Well, they are often called ‘ghost cats’ and they relish the sense of mystery their environment has given them.  They are not only beautiful but strong, clever and brave.  They go after what they want and they’re often successful.  However, one big question remains:

          What do they do during the holidays?

          Wait a second!  Snow Leopards celebrate holidays?  Do they celebrate Christmas?  Of course, they do and they’re always looking for fun.  Believe it or not, they enjoy Christmas trees, games and of course, the holiday meal.  Now, what about Santa Claus?  Do Snow Leopards believe in Santa Claus?

          You’re damned right they do!  As a meow of fact, one named Sammy was actually really excited to see Santa.  He also thought it would be cool to actually see the North Pole.  Now, Sammy lived in Russia and wasn’t paw-ticulary close to the North Pole, but he figured that would be coooool to try to get to the North Pole.  He wasn’t sure that if he could do it but what the hell-

          He had nothing to lose, and it would be really cool to see that man in the red suit!  Besides that, how cool would it be to finally see the North Pole?  So, let the pawing begin.  Sammy was heading north for Christmas!

          So, he headed out along with two cubs named orphaned cubs named Timmy and Terry.  They weren’t Sammy’s cubs- he just happened to know that they had been alone for along time and they needed some help.  Besides, the plan was once they got to the North Pole they were hoping to stay.  There was no way that they were going to make this long journey again.  So, they were off, ready, willing and looking for adventure.

          What in the growl was going to happen next?

          It was hard to tell really, considering you never knew what you were going to run into.  The ironic thing was that about 100 miles into their journey they ran into a Pallas’s Cat, who was unbelievably shocked to see them.

          “Where the fur are you Snow Leopards going?”  the Pallas’s Cat asked screwing up his face in that funny way that made them so irresistible to goofy humans. 

          “We’re going to see Santa!”  Terry piped up with that cute, little grunt sound.  “We want to live at the North Pole!”

          Now, Sammy wasn’t too happy about the kid revealing plans to a Pallas’s Cat, who had a reputation in the cat world of not being trustworthy but much to Sammy’s surprise, he looked impressed.

          “That’s pawsome!”  he announced.  “Can I come with you cats?  I’d love to get out of here.  I think the humans want to mine the mountain.”

          “Damn,” Sammy answered while the cubs got all big-eyed. All wild cats in Asia knew that mining had to be one of their main threats.  “Yeah, pal you can come.”

         

It turns out that the Pallas’s Cat’s name was Mike and for supposedly a ‘grumpy cat’ he actually seemed to be on the friendly side.  He told tales of humans poaching and how he managed to get a couple of his pals out of some traps.  He actually wished that they could run into a couple of them because they would love to head to the North Pole too.

Sammy was starting to feel really contented at this point.  Snow was falling and the cubs were keeping him, and Mike amused.  After awhile, they paws-ed for their respective snacks and then they resumed traveling.  Finally, Mike asked Sammy, “Do you know where we’re at?”

At this point the cubs were hanging close and Mike seemed like he was closer too, out of caution.  “I can hear a lot of water,” Sammy said.

“We don’t have to go in it, do we?”  asked Terry.

He didn’t get a chance to answer because a huge roar cut him off!

 

You can take a guess what the huge roar did.  It caused the small snow leopards and Mike to jump on Sammy’s back.  Needless to say that was no picnic for Sammy who winced in pain bepaws Mike had claws from hell.  “Get off me!”  he yowled.

          As he regrouped, little did he know that a tiger was within a hundred feet of them.  When Sammy noticed that he was so stunned that he fell back on his butt.  “Where in the hell did you come from?”  he asked.

          The tiger pawed up to them glaring at them.  He was nose-to-nose with Sammy.  “Little out of range aren’t you, dude?”

          Sammy, who in his own right was ferocious and never usually afraid of anyone or anything, felt himself kind of shaking.  “I have every right to be here.” 

 

          The tiger just glared at them but after a minute he opened his mouth and let out such another roar that it sent Mike and the cubs off Sammy’s back into the fresh snow.  In the meantime, Sammy was so surprised that he fell back down on his butt.

          Mike was the one that said it first, “Holy FURRBALLS man!”  he yelled at the tiger.  “I never knew you dude’s could roar that loud.”

          Now, who knows what was up with this dude but he was seething- foaming at the mouth almost.  This tiger was just flat-out pissed.  The snow leopard cubs, for some reason, got a spine and went up to him carefully.  “What’s the matter with you?”  asked Timmy.  “Do you have a thorn in your paws?”

          The tiger stopped and looked down at the cubs in shock.  “What did you just say?”  he asked.

          “Do you have a thorn in your paw?”  asked Timmy.  “You’re so crabby.”

          Suddenly, the tiger started laughing and guess what?

          He couldn’t stop.

The kitties didn’t get it.  As a meow of fact, Mike had his face all screwed up in pure disgust.  “What in the fur is so funny?”  he asked.

The tiger was rolling on the floor, stopped and looked up at the cats.  “I couldn’t help it,” he replied.  “That was one of the funniest things I ever heard.”

Meee-huh?  If you want whisker twitching- by meows you got it- along with some tail swishing.  What in the fur was up with this?  Finally, Sammy asked, “That was one of the funniest things you ever heard?”  he repeated. 

“Definitely,” he answered.  “I haven’t had a good laugh in a long time.”

That had Timmy’s fur up.  “I asked you a question,” he mini-growled out.  “It wasn’t supposed to be funny.”

The tiger gave him a head noogie with his tail.  “Relax little dude.  You actually helped me out.”

Now Mike was interested, “How?”

“It’s weird,” the tiger answered, “after I ate a couple of days ago by this creek- I’ve been cranky ever since.  It’s like I was cursed or something.”

Sammy had a big imagination, but he was somewhat skeptical of this.  “Cursed?”

“That’s what I said,” the tiger answered.

Mike said it and he deserved a medal for it.  “I don’t believe it.”

Everybody stared at him and why wouldn’t they?  You had a lot of fuzzy balls to take on a tiger.  Surprisingly though, this dude seemed really mellowed out.  “I guess you had to be there,” he said.  “But trust me it was really weird.  I wouldn’t recommend going there.”

“Don’t worry,” Sammy answered, “we won’t.”

Finally, it seemed to sink into the tiger’s head that he was literally hanging out with 3 Snow Leopards and a Pallas Cat.  “Wait a second,” he said, “this is really weird.  What are you cats doing here anyway?  You cats are way too far north.”

“We’re going to see Santa Claus,” Sammy said.

The tiger’s mouth dropped.  “Santa?”  he asked.

“Yeah,” Mike added.  “We’re headed up there too and here’s hoping that all of us can stay there.  It is furry scary out here anymore.  Humans want to take over everything.”

          The tiger nodded.  “Can’t argue with you there.”

          Sammy, who really wanted to get going, just automatically threw it out there. “Want to come with us?”

          The tiger stared at Sammy intently.  “You’re kidding.”

          “Nope,” answered Sammy.  “I’m not kidding.  You’re welcome to come with us.”

          The tiger stood up and the tail was swishing with complete enthusiasm.  “That’d be great!”  he announced.  “Let’s go!”

          Timmy, Terry and Mike were eyeing Sammy with some disgust.  “Are you sure this is a good idea?”  asked Mike.

          “Why not?”  asked Sammy, turning to look at him.  “It’d be good to have him around.”  He turned to look for the tiger and his eyes almost popped out of his head.  “Holy furballs!!!!!!”

 

          A huge Amur Leopard was sitting right in front of them.  Where in the fur did he come from?  The tiger though actually gave one of those goofy big cat grins.

          “Eddie!”  he growled happily.  “What is going on?  Where did you come from?”

          “I heard you talking and saw that you were hanging with these dudes,” he answered, eyeing up the other cats.  “Where did you cats come from?”  he asked.  “You guys are way out of your range.”
          “We’re going to see Santa Claus!”  Terry exclaimed without any fear.  Wow you had to respect the cubs they had no fear.

          Eddie looked stunned but the other cats noticed that his tail was swishing with interest.  “Are you cats serious,” he looks at the tiger.  “Are you really going with them Dave?”

          Dave?  A Siberian Tiger named Dave.  Wait a meow-minute this was getting funny.  Dave and Eddie- like Van Halen.  But what do big cats know about Van Halen?  This was all about Santa and Eddie seemed purr-ty interested.  “Can I come with you cats?”  he asked Dave. 

          Dave nods towards Sammy.  “Ask him, he’s in charge.”

          At this point every cat is looking at Sammy.  Wow it was a weird feeling, especially that Amur Leopard.  His eyes were piercing and he felt like squirming.  How in the world did this happen?  He just wanted to paw up to Santa’s and chill.  He didn’t think he’d be hanging out with a Pallas’s Cat and an Amur Leopard and tiger.          “Hey,” he answered, “I have no problem with you coming.”  What was he going to say?  No, Mr. Amur Leopard, screw you- you can’t come.  Besides that what would Santa say anyway- if he told him that he couldn’t come.  There was also the idea that he didn’t want to get his face sliced off.

          The Amur Leopard seemed really happy to hear this and the gang headed off.  It turns out that his name was Andy.  He couldn’t wait to see Santa, he informed them and it was a paws-itive relief to actually run into all of them.  He was tired of hiding from humans and it would actually be good to get to a calm place like the North Pole and take a nap. 

          Dave felt the same way.  It was really scary in this part of the areas.  Trees were being cut down constantly and there were the poachers going around too.  “I’ve been on the run for weeks,” he told all of them.  “I’m getting tired of it.”
          Sammy, Mike and the cubs just listened in awe and downright horror.  Poachers were their biggest fear.  “We lost our Mommy to a poacher,” Timmy said. 

          The big cats looked at the cubs sadly.  How freaking low is that though?  Shooting a new mom?  Sammy felt especially bad considering he knew the cubs were around for a long time.  “I’m really sorry to hear that,” Sammy said after a couple of minutes.  “That stinks.” 

          There casual conversation and pawing around was soon cut off by a strong wind!