Once, a long while back, I went to an animal....uh, well not quite a sanctuary, but this place owned by a man named Lee Greenly up in Sandstone, MN.
Lee Greenly kept wild animals like bears, cougars, deer, foxes, some angry badgers, a pine martin, a smelly coyote and even some wolves!

The first year I visited, I went with my advanced Wildlife class in High School, we got to see almost all his animals but we weren't able to visit Lee's wolf pack for some reason or another. I did get to meet some amazing animals though. Lee raises and trains wild animals for things like photo shoots for magazines and for acting in movies. It was here that we got to do the craziest things.

To Pet a Puma
<Adventures with Animals Part 2>

The first time I went with my Advanced Wildlife group, there was still alot of snow on the ground just barely thawing in the late spring. Lee was avoiding having us take alot of pictures of animals in their cages, since with the thaw alot of poop and pee was getting all over the place before he could get it cleaned out. It was only a timing issue, not that he was taking bad care of the animals and he wanted to be careful. He wasn't just making it up either, the animals all looked very healthy and were spry and playful. <except the cranky badgers>

About halfway through our tour, Lee brought us by a HUGE garage with tons of cages. Inside we all of his mountain lions/cougars/pumas, or whateever you wish to call them. They had recently been moved into these cages so their larger ones outside could be cleaned up and set up nice and fresh for them.

Walking up to one of the larger cages, Lee and his strong-looking assistant put one of the female pumas on a large, heavy chain leash and brought her out to visit us. As I was for most the events here, I was soooo excited. The puma wandered amongst us, sniffing and grinning in her own arrogant feline fashion as she paced a bit within a circle of the students.

Eventually Lee passed the leash out to anyone brave enough amongst us to take it. Someone else got it first and I thought I would finally die of impatience before I finally got it.

Then I had it, the puma's leash. wow, just wow. How many people could claim to even had seen such a beautiful creature, let alone hold it's leash and PET it!? I was very careful to have her sniff my hand and got a quick pat in before she flopped down at my feet to roll a bit and clean herself. She was leaning heavily on my foot, but I was grinning too much to care.

All of the sudden, the puma whipped around and mouthed my leg roughly, like what a cat sometimes does when it gets excited after getting petted too long. Lee's assistant lept foward to pull the leash back, but he was faaaaar too slow. The puma rolled a lazy eye at him and Lee's jaw dropped in utter shock.

I hadn't even flinched.

"How can you stay so calm?" He laughed apologetically as the puma hugged my leg with her huge paws.
"Well, if she really wanted to hurt me," I replied. "I don't think anyone of us could have stopped her." I shrugged and he laughed.
"You really are a crazy animal gal."

I looked down at the puma holding my legs and she looked me straight in the eyes. Gold met slate and I felt the power of her personality. I felt as though she was speaking to me. She was impressed with my bravery too. She had bit half in play, half as a show to demand respect. She still was wild at heart and wanted to be respected for her courage too. I told her with my eyes, the love, devotion, and respect I gave to all my animal friends and in return, she put her big, dangerous, graceful head against my hand and let me pet her chin.

Lee's assistant took the puma's leash from me and put her back in the cage as we moved on. I remember lingering at the back of the class, to take one last look back at the puma as we headed away.

I swear, in her own feline way, she was smiling.

So was I.

/purr
-Gavy