World Image issue 30 March 2016_1
Cuddling the Cheetahs… Peter Hogel Let’s get a couple of things straight from the beginning… Who am I, Wildlife guide and wildlife photographer in Uganda and when the voices in my head speak to me they do it with a voice of Gorillas, birds, crickets and a serenade of other wildlife. I do not like wild animals as pets or in a zoo, however, that said… UWEC, Uganda Wildlife Educational Center, some might call it a zoo, but it does work as an educational center for anyone who wants education that has to do with wildlife and animals. It also has the most important task to educate school kids in Uganda, about animals and how, and why, they need to co-exist, a crucial piece in the jigsaw puzzle of wildlife conservation. So I do try to help in my way, take photos, document and “spread the word” that’s what we did before we could “share”. Website = photosociety.net Page 18 email = magazine@photosociety.net
So here they are, now about 11 months old, strong and with sharp teeth and claws…and very playful. So every once in a while I find myself behind the scenes of UWEC, getting the sherry of the cake, getting close to some of those animals that I normally keep on an arm’s length, without giving them my arm so to speak. They are used to people, their “keeper” and tourists that pay for the behind the scenes tour, money goes to running the center and hopefully a new cat enclosure, eventually… So I had some good time to get up close, they like to nibble on my fingers, but don’t bite, well not intentionally anyway, they have a “sharp” mind and are not pets, so even if we consider them as safe to handle, they like to sneak up from behind and breath down your neck, so one shouldn’t relax too much. It’s a privilege to get so close to these cats, not many people do…and live to tell about it, LOL… but here we can, and if you do pas by Uganda, you should definitely stop by! This time, it was cuddling with the cheetahs, the two slender cats are siblings from north eastern Uganda, found abandoned or survived from poachers when they were just a few weeks, they were brought to UWEC and survived, what happened to their mom we don’t know. I’ve been around this place for some time now, and I won’t argue with the fact that animals shouldn’t be locked up, they should run free…however, we do come across animals way to often that needs our help, and unfortunately some don’t have the option to be able to be reinstated in their natural habitat, at least here they can stand for the fight against poachers, and lead the roll of educating people, and that does make a difference. I must say, the animals at UWEC do have as good life as it can be, they are well taken care of in a good environment, well we do need a new cat enclosure…bigger. Peter Hogel Website = photosociety.net Page 19 email = magazine@photosociety.net
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So here they are, now about 11 months old, strong<br />
and with sharp teeth and claws…and very playful.<br />
So every once in a while I find myself behind the<br />
scenes of UWEC, getting the sherry of the cake,<br />
getting close to some of those animals that I<br />
normally keep on an arm’s length, without giving<br />
them my arm so to speak.<br />
They are used to people, their “keeper” and tourists<br />
that pay for the behind the scenes tour, money goes<br />
to running the center and hopefully a new cat<br />
enclosure, eventually…<br />
So I had some good time to get up close, they like to<br />
nibble on my fingers, but don’t bite, well not<br />
intentionally anyway, they have a “sharp” mind and<br />
are not pets, so even if we consider them as safe to<br />
handle, they like to sneak up from behind and breath<br />
down your neck, so one shouldn’t relax too much.<br />
It’s a privilege to get so close to these cats, not many<br />
people do…and live to tell about it, LOL… but here<br />
we can, and if you do pas by Uganda, you should<br />
definitely stop by!<br />
This time, it was cuddling with the cheetahs, the two<br />
slender cats are siblings from north eastern Uganda,<br />
found abandoned or survived from poachers when<br />
they were just a few weeks, they were brought to<br />
UWEC and survived, what happened to their mom<br />
we don’t know.<br />
I’ve been around this place for some time now, and I<br />
won’t argue with the fact that animals shouldn’t be<br />
locked up, they should run free…however, we do<br />
come across animals way to often that needs our<br />
help, and unfortunately some don’t have the option<br />
to be able to be reinstated in their natural habitat, at<br />
least here they can stand for the fight against<br />
poachers, and lead the roll of educating people, and<br />
that does make a difference. I must say, the animals<br />
at UWEC do have as good life as it can be, they are<br />
well taken care of in a good environment, well we<br />
do need a new cat enclosure…bigger.<br />
Peter Hogel<br />
Website = photosociety.net Page 19 email = magazine@photosociety.net
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