Week 299 ( 15th - 21st May 2009 )
Cathay and 327 share a moment and TigerWoods rediscovers food
Cathay spent the week with TigerWoods in the 1ha camp and it was now time for her to return to 327 in the 3ha camp. 327 was standing at the gate when I opened for Cathay, she bounded into the 3ha camp without a second thought and was greeted by him with profuse chuffs to which she responded just as copiously. They both played a little, standing up and waving their paws and 327 tapped Cathay across the back of her legs as she turned around to walk off. He returned to the gate to see if there were any more visitors whilst Cathay strolled down to the 40ha fence. Cathay then disappeared to the back of beyond and 327 paced the 1ha fence.
TigerWoods ambled up to the gate, looked at it, looked at me, looked over his shoulder then looked at 327 accusatorily (perhaps he had swallowed her) and then back at me totally perplexed; one minute Cathay was with him in the camp and the next (like magic) she was gone. It was only later during the morning when Cathay and he happened to be at the fence at the same time that he discovered where she was. He then spent some of the morning pacing and pondering how he was going to get her back.
On Monday 327 followed me to Cathay and once she caught sight of him she ran up to him; at first 327 thought that she was going to attack him and cringed in anticipation. As she reached him she stood up on her hind legs and waved her paws at him; chuffing. At this point he realised that she was playing with him and he too waved a paw in her face and she tapped him gently on the side of his face and nuzzled him.
Thursday, and TigerWoods was the first to be fed, contrary to feeding times in the past he couldn’t wait to be fed. He was drooling as I unlocked the gate to the maternity camp, bounced around as I carried his springbuck in and chuffed at me as I opened for him to feed. There was no standing around and pondering whether the gate was open enough and no deliberating about which foot to step out with, he just raced through and before I could say “help yourself” he had carried the buck to a position out of sight and one crunch followed on another as he got stuck in. But as I turned around and climbed into the vehicle he left his food and galloped down to see what Cathay and 327 were getting. After I had fed them he realised that there was nothing else for him he returned to his own meal and settled in for relentless eating.