Down a country road way out in the woods about 15 miles outside Chapel Hill, NC, in a tall, wide cage made of chain-link fencing, lives the last remaining Barbary leopard on the planet. Her name is Levra, and she's nearing the end of her life, at 18 16 years old. UPDATE! A helpful commenter notes that Levra, at age 16, may in fact live to the ripe old age of 28 attained by her mother.
Actually, some might say that she isn't, in fact, the last Barbary leopard -- her mother was one, and mated with a regular leopardy leopard for one last shot at furthering the species. Still others say Barbary leopard tracks have been spotted in the area of their original habitat, the Atlas Mountains.
Not being a zoologist myself, I don't have much to add to that, except to report that we saw her this past weekend at the Carnivore Preservation Trust, and I'm still awestruck by the idea that perhaps the only surviving Barbary leopard in the world lives in the Carolina countryside. I'm probably even more wistful about it since the animal is so beautiful, as is the phrase "Barbary leopard," which deserves to be in a poem. Also, the south just makes me generally wistful.
Joining Levra (though in separate cages) at CPT are some other regular leopards, along with several tigers, caracals, binturongs, jaguars, ocelots and servals, all overseen by a restless kettle of vultures swooping around the tall trees most picturesquely as they scope out the carcasses being fed to these carnivores.* On our Saturday morning visit with our gracious hosts, R- and O-, we got the impression that these raptors also were eyeing the gaggle of earnest young Cub Scouts taking the tour alongside us.
You can read more about CPT on their Web site -- basically, it's a wildlife preserve descended from a discontinued "captive breeding" program. They also take in "rescued" animals, such as Romeo, originally purchased as a guard tiger by a Durham thug. When Romeo got too big to handle, the guy brought him in to a local vet to see about getting him declawed and de-fanged. The ASPCA took over from there. They also take in animals such as the kinkajou, commonly known for being adopted by the mentally deficient moneyed class.
Anyway, pictures. There are some great shots out there by better photographers, such as this and this. But though those I took, below, suffer from my woeful lack of a decent zoom lens, I think they give a more honest view of what it's like to visit (minus the heat and mosquitoes, of course) -- even their keepers rarely see these animals without a cage between them.
Kaela and Rajah, enjoying a bath.
Growly, smelly little ocelot.
Wistful kinkajou.
VULTURES!
Totally gratuitous shot of Django, the softest, sweetest spaniel in the South, completely oblivious to the creatures down the road who would love to have him over for dinner.
*Apparently this is the term for a group of vultures in the air. But a stationary group, as seen above, is called a "venue." Who knew?
