lovable
cats for lovable people
FIFe World Show in Maastricht/Netherlands
on October 28/29, 2006
The Show Program, page 3
he Pantera Foundation was founded in the early 1990's in the Netherlands by Arno van der Valk and Barbera Burgstra. This non-profit organisation rescues wild cats and reptiles born in Europe (however, as the name implies, mainly animals of the species "Pantera", such as lion, tiger, leopard/panther, jaguar, snow leopard) from zoos, circuses, or private homes. According to the Pantera website, it is not unusal that cute wild cat litters are born and raised to attract visitors. But unfortunately, it is not always possible to keep or place them when they get older because of severe space problems - usually a death sentence for the former public attraction...
(P.S. Exactly one day after I wrote this very text in November 2006, several national and international newspapers, such as the Munich daily newspaper "tz", published the following story: "Poison for lions" - Although there are only about 1000 of the Ethopian Lions left worldwide, the Addis Abeba zoo has been poisoning their litters for two years because there is no money left for buying food for them. The dead animals are sold for 170 Dollars to preparators" - a truly heartbreaking story. It seems there is much going wrong regarding big cat's offspring in zoos...)
his is where Pantera intercedes. The rescued animals are housed and lovingly taken care of in spacious accommodations, especially equipped for their well-being, until they can be placed into permanent homes to give more big cats in need a chance to be rescued. Among others, Pantera also offers trainees and scientists the opportunity to behavioral research, and studies are done to find ways for ideal animal keeping to prevent stereotypical behaviour problems.
f course, everything costs lots of money, so the organisation depends on donations and sponsors (guided visitor tours are possible on a very small scale only to avoid stress for the animals). Therefore Maastricht was a great opportunity to present Pantera to many cat/animal lovers. Maybe I am wrong, but personally I was under the impression that Pantera as a foundation could have received more attention, despite the stall's extra beautiful and exotic look.
t least I did not pay too much attention and just strolled by at first, thinking, "Aha, a vendor specialized in selling wild cat toys". Only when there was a donation appeal for Pantera on stage just before the Best in Show started on Sunday, I realized Pantera's meaning and purpose (unfortunately I read the Dutch advertising page in the show catalogue not before I was back home). Maybe a large plate or poster next to the stall with short information, also in English, no by-passers could have missed might have helped to raise attention and donations.
f you want to learn more about Pantera or wish to make some donation, please visit www.pantera.nl .
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 ut there was another event supporting the Pantera Foundation - the
"Pantera Tryptichon" |
 erhaps similar to the principle of Paint-By-Numbers, everybody could paint a certain area of the huge canvas for a small fee, all proceeds directly going into the Pantera Foundation |
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 ots of color pots and everything else necessary for this fun action had been prepared and was awaiting the public (by the way, the tryptichon patterns were donated by show photographer Renate Leijen, more about her later) |
nother highlight of this show was the "Cat Agility". Though there are just a few spectators pictured in this photo, the square was crowded more than often. At certain times Martin Gaus was present too, moderating the performance in the ring
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his kind of "cat sports" was started by a group of American cat show judges a couple of years ago. In fact, today people organize real tournaments where the cats (and their owners...) are to negotiate the obstacle course as fast as possible, with points off for obstacles missed or incompletions
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owever, this time the purpose of the agility ring in Maastricht was not an official one, but just intended for introducing cat agility to the public in the first place, entertainment for the spectators, and demonstration that such an obstacle course is much fun for cats and their humans as well. As we all know, projects like this only work when the cat is willing and eager, force leads to nothing... :-). The owner usually uses a feather teaser to encourage and direct the cat through the course. Anyway, some say there are cats enjoying cat agility so much that after a while they negotiate the course on their own, without any external encouragement
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fter this great performance, the little Manx kitty and her human mommy had a more than deserved break ... :-) |
next FIFe World Winner Show Maastricht, page 10
