Last saturday I finally made one of my biggest dreams come true: to be able to be amongst cheetahs.

It's hard for a fur to express with words what's it like when your fursona is not of a creature that is relatively easy to see or touch. When I learned that in Spain, in Toledo, so close to Madrid where I live, there was a kind of 'cheetah haven' I couldn't do but to try to find out exactly where and how to be able to go.

To all of you, cheetah fans in the world and all of you who at least like fast kitties a lot, I'll tell you that everything you thought you knew about them will prolly not be enough. After having watched tons of National Geographic documentaries about them, thousands of pics, lots of websites with information.... seeing them has not only confirmed all of my guesses and personal (and adquired) theories, but I've been able to see that they're even better than I could ever have thought.

For starters, the cheetah is maybe the only feline out there that is totally able to have a good, equal-to-equal relationship with a human being. And I say that it's the only one because you can't say that about even the regular domestic cat. Cats are cute, affectionate, playful, but... when they want. They're not noble, trustworthy creatures, like, for example dogs (even though they have many other qualities!). However, cheetahs in personality are much closer to a dog than to the cat they're supposed to be.

That was the most important feature that I've seen in them, such an unusual virtue in a 'wild animal': nobility. When somebody faces a 'big cat' the first thing that comes to mind is 'beautiful, yet dangerous'. Even cheetahs in zoos can give you that impression. Not as big as a lion, but you'd rather not get too close just in case!

These cheetahs were different. They're tame, but not because they've been genetically altered or because they're not wild. It's not because they've been domesticated or tamed. The environment in which these cheetahs live includes the best conditions for them to develop their normal life. The only thing they lack is worries: they don't need to worry about predators.

Just picture it: a world where there's TV, the Internet, love, music, games, everything you can think of and that you like! A world where you don't need to work, where you know that nobody will hurt you, a world without crime, just good feelings. You're surrounded by good waves. These cheetahs live in that utopia.

Cheetahs are peaceful, affectionate and social creatures. They're not built to fight, but to sneak out of trouble. They eat to live. They're not aggressive, they only want to not be intimidated. That's not a whole lot to ask, now is it?

So well, I learned all of that just after 1 or 2 minutes inside Mr. and Mrs Heindereich's manor. A middle-aged retired married couple from Germany that decided to come to Spain to build this place where they could contribute, with their experience and wisdom, to keep and breed cheetahs.

Just so you get an idea about cheetahs' sociability, they're even more amiable than many dogs. When you get into a yard and there's a dog, usually the owner goes to soothe him before the dog gets worried or nervous because of an stranger's presence. Well, Bagheera, a cheetah, looked at me quite idly, like thinking 'oh, a visit'. Manfred and Christa invited me to come in from the first moment, just like if Bagheera was a harmless periqueet, with such confidence that I could hardly believe it. I got in and I stood still after they closed the door, looking at Bagheera. Christa went over to her, crouched down and petted her, while Manfred encouraged me to get closer. OMG.. I was just a couple of feet away from a cheetah!

So I took my camera and Manfred told me to hold on for a second. He tapped a log and said to Bagheera, 'C'mon, Bagheera, photo', and Bagheera leaped (yeah, there you could actually see that she was a cat, because she leaped like if she had a couple of reaction engines in her hindpaws) and... she 'posed'. I took the picture and when I lowered the camera, Bagheera got down from the log. She had posed for me!

Okay, now. All of us have seen lions and tigers, even elephants, at circuses, with the tamers, doing really amazing things, but /always/ under a 'threaten', a yoke. How many times you've heard about tamers being attacked. Did you ever realize that the tamer always bears a whip that he constantly hits against the ground? That's his way of telling the lion 'you'd rather do it, else..' I really don't want to think about how many times those creatures have been beaten or mistreated before they actually got to do all the tricks their tamer wanted them to do.

But Manfred talked to Bagheera calmly, quietly, like if she was a doggy. She posed for me and then she went off to go on with her life. She went over to Manfred and Christa's side to get a bit of love and affection that they were eager to give her. You could actually see that they were not faking: that was their every-day. As sincere as it could be. Bagheera considered them her family. There was total confidence and affection.

By then I was feeling quite jealous, and I was just wondering if I might ever be able to touch her with my fingertip while they held her for me. I... just wanted to be able to do that, even if it was just touching the tip of her tail for a millisecond.. and then it was when they told me again to come over and... pet her. They were not alert, they knew for sure that Bagheera wouldn't even think about looking bad at me. So they were not holding her, just petting her as well. They trusted her, like if danger was 100% non-existant. So I got closer... and coyly began to stroke her back. They then stood and left her with me alone. She turned her head, looked at me curiously, sniffed at me and I kept on petting her... even if a bit awkwardly. She finally settled and.. began tu PURR!! That was indeed the biggest discovery! Cheetahs DO purr! All the time!

Since I don't want to bore you (heh, I prolly did already ^^;), I'm not going to give you a per-minute detail of everything I did there, so I'll try to summarize the rest as good as I can.

After spending some more time with Bagheera, we left her in her compound and we went on past the first fence, where every cheetah has their own personal space, of about 3200 square feet, with its own little house. Manfred opened Shila and her sister's (I'm sorry, I can't remember her name!) compound doors and let them out. Along the corridor between the compunds, I saw another cheetah, a male, but this one didn't seem to be so happy or healthy. He was a male that they had brought from a zoo so he could breed with Bagheera. He looked suspicious, nervous, even frightened. His life was not so easy, that was clear.

The manor's back part is an open space of about 7.5 to 10 acres. Without much vegetation, quite desertic, it's the cheetah's ideal habitat. Soon both sisters began to run around, play and do whatever leopards do when they're in liberty.

Shila was more social than her sister. While the other was basically minding her own business, Shila was with us all the time. They're both 2 years old, and they're both Bagheerah and Shere Khan's daughters. I spent plenty of time with Shila, petting her, pampering her. She'd lick my hands, nibble my fingers (though very carefully), she nuzzled me... All of that while Manfred was telling me everything a man can know about cheetahs. The reason for Shere Khan to be 'hidden' from the females' sight was that Manfred wanted him to breed with Bagheera again. Since cheetahs are so social, keeping them together all the time would make them grow a fraternal bond, and instinct would keep them from breeding with a sibling in order to preservate their offspring's genetic variety and quality.

That's why captive cheetahs don't breed. In a zoo, not mentioning the stress they have to deal with all the time (seeing their natural predators so close without being able to escape anywhere, a wrong nutrition, a very tiny space), the fact that they usually put members of different gender together is prolly the worst idea one could have if they want them to breed. But Manfred has found out the definitive solution to get cheetahs to breed and live ever so happy on top of that. I've been witness of it.

Nowadays, Manfred thinks that Bagheera might be pregnant, but he won't know for sure until late december. If putting her together with Mr. Grumpy succeeded, in february the second litter of spanish cheetahs will see the light of the day. And I wish I can be a witness of it again.

I wish the world was full of people like the Heidenreich. I still don't know how, but I want to help in whatever way possible on their task, contribute in some way. I don't wanna see my fellow cheetahs go into extinction if I can do something to avoid it. I hope I can have my own cheetah haven in the future, now that I've seen that it's not only possible to cohabit with them, but it really seems like if they had been born for that... to be friends of humans. Like a dog, like a horse. No more, no less.

If you want to know more, please visit the site that changed my life:

http://www.cheetahs-rock.de/aboutus.htm

Unfortunately, I can't just say 'hey, go see them!' like if it was a circus or a zoo. It's not a public thing, nor a commercial or scientifical institution. It's just a private home that belongs to this couple. Of course they'd allow visits like they allowed mine if they see a real and sincere interest in you, but that's why you won't see any phone number, any address, just an e-mail address where you can write and, even if it's just that, say thanks to them. They're a really nice, hospitable couple, and I will definetly go visit them again many times. If you like cheetahs just as much as I do and you get to concert a visit, I assure you that it will change your life as it did mine.

Until them, you can see the pics I've taken and that I'll be posting these days in my FA account.

Thanks to all for reading! ^^