HUIEW&#@YQGUI#EV!!!!!!! XDDD

OMG GUYS! GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAAAAAAAAAT!!!!

I PETTED A WILD CHEETAH!!!!

njelfhalhlsvlvszdbvaldfv YAYAYYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAAAAAAY!!!!!

ok, here's the story.

It was a dark and stormy night. No, really it was. Booming thunder, flashing lighting, rain, hail- full on African storm type stuff. serious business.

Anyways, they had just gotten three new cubs in from a farmer whose mom had died :( And by cubs, I mean probably about 7-8 months old, but already pretty big. They needed to knock them out and run check ups/ measure them/ take sample/ etc. We interns were told we could watch! (rather impromptu I might add, like A LOT of things here, actually) Anyways, we were watching from the sidelines in the clinic, VERY silently, when the vet and all the actual official people started asking us to help. First it was just to take the cheetahs' temperature, then monitoring breathing (which I did for all three cubs!), measuring it, rubbing its paws to keep it warm, etc. So there I was, watching my watch (lol), when the temperature of the first female started to drop pretty severely. So they piled on blankets and hot water bottles, but I couldn't exactly watch her breathing with all the blankets. THUS, Juliet (one of the staff members) put my hand under the blanket RIGHT ONTO THE CHEETAH'S SIDE and told me to keep track that way.... DWQIDHWLEFHLQWE!!! Then she was telling us to rub her to keep her warm and THAT is how I pet a WILD CHEETAH yesterday!!!!

IT WAS SO AMAZING!!!

Well, apart from this one terrifying moment wherein the male cub STOPPED BREATHING... worst thing ever. D: But he was okay in the end. I would have told you about this ADVENTURE earlier, but we finished with all three cubs at about 11pm and by that time the internet had been switched off.

Apart from that bit of excitement, i have been having an EXCELLENT couple of days. Officially, I have still been in the office. UNOFFICIALLY, I helped release the three cubs into there enclosure (a lot more work than it sounds, especially when they didn't want to get out of the box), feed two other cheetahs, and capture another who needed to be taken to the vet. (All of this done on a trip that I pretty much hopped on board with last minute which made me late for Game Count orientation, but no one really cared.)Also, I took an impromptu hike through the bush trying to track Hi-Fi, the local wild cheetah. It actually got really dark while we were out there WITHOUT a flashlight... adventurous, but we weren't actually in much danger and we never did find Hi-Fi. Pretty much, Cat (my primary supervisor at the moment) rushed into her office and was like "I'm going to go track Hi-Fi, we think he might have killed something. Want to come???" and I was all like "HECK YES!"




OFFICIALLY, I went on a Game Count trip. This is where we go into the field (the field is HUGE) in a van (again the very legit safari one) and count all the various animals we saw. VERY cool and ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. It was AMAZING. I saw onyx, red hartabeast, an ardwolf, jackals, an ostrich, and even a LEOPARD. (Who was hiding in the grass so well, I couldn't get a good pic!)

And yes, I know I said I wouldn't blog for a bit, but this was just TOO exciting to handle. Tomorrow I will be going on a visit to the cheetah dentist and I will be working more outdoors, thank god. But you know, I REALLY like it here so far. And boy, does it feel like I've been here more than three days. I'm having so much fun! Check out Facebook for photos! Love you!