What’s new, pussycat?
WHILE it may look perfectly cute and cuddly, we imagine there are some down sides to having a pet panther roaming about your house.
Yes, it’s like a real live The Tiger Who Came To Tea for big cat expert Giles Clark, who takes on the rather ‘above and beyond’ undertaking of raising a neglected big cat in his home.
Back from a decade-long stint at Australia Zoo in Brisbane, this three-parter follows Giles as he takes over the running of the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, which he hopes to build into a centre of global excellence conservation.
And his first task is the care of Maya, a weak and vulnerable five day-old black jaguar cub, who has been neglected by her mother.
After knocking together a makeshift bed in his suburban house, Giles encourages a shaking, terrified Maya to get used to her new home.
“He’s just animal crazy,” says Giles’ 23-year-old daughter Sam, while his fiancée Kathryn admirably goes along with this latest “adventure”.
Giles says: “The majority of cat species are facing a crisis in the wild.
“We cannot allow these animals to disappear.”
And you have to hand it to him, as he provides Maya with round-the-clock care, including night feeds of formula, it’s very much like caring for a newborn baby.
Meanwhile there’s the day job of looking after 50 big cats at the sanctuary, and we also follow Giles on a trip to Cambodia, where he witnesses the plight of big cats in the wild.