Week 204 (20th–26th July 2007)

Back to normal life, Mr Ed comes to visit:

After Cathay was introduced to the 40 ha camp, she didn’t even attempt to hunt. Maybe she has learnt to rely on being fed without having to hunt. However, her major task now is to breed, so it was decided to let her go back to the 4 ha camp. On Friday afternoon a wildebeest leg was put in the 4 ha camp for her. Cathay who hadn’t eaten for 2 days jumped into the 4 ha camp and held the leg in her mouth and carried it to a bush more than 10 meters away and began to eat. The gate between the 4 ha camp and the 40 ha camp was closed. The other 3 tigers also each got one wildebeest leg. Their life has returned to normal.

On Monday, the horse Ed went to the tiger camp again. He soon attracted all the tigers’ attention. Even 327 who had just got his food was also attracted by his cough. He followed Ed for a while before realizing it was impossible to catch him. So 327 went back to eating from the carcass again. When Ed went to the river to graze, TigerWoods appeared from the long grass in the river line. He lowered his body and went close to Ed, then hid in the grass watching him for half an hour. Later Madonna also joined him. Both of them tried to stalk Ed. When it got dark TigerWoods finally gave up and went aside and sat down. Madonna was still concentrating hard on watching Ed.

TigerWoods, Madonna and Cathay each got a springbok carcass on Tuesday afternoon. The springbok carcass for Cathay was put into the breeding center. It was done to get Cathay used to going into the breeding center. When the gate to the quarantine camp was opened, Cathay jumped into the quarantine camp and ran to 327’s cage immediately. But soon, she ran back and rushed into the breeding center for the carcass. As soon as she reached the carcass, she dragged it out of the cage and began to eat in the quarantine camp. The next morning it was discovered that Cathay had dragged the springbok carcass back into the 4 ha camp. She and TigerWoods and Madonna didn’t appear at all in the morning. After 327 was released into the quarantine camp, he began to smell around the camp immediately and finished all the small meat left by Cathay.

That afternoon, Cathay only appeared after 17:30. She was attracted by the horse Ed who was grazing near the 40 ha camp. After a while TigerWoods appeared at the other side of the fence. Both of them was so fat they both looked pregnant and could hardly move.