It is my sad duty to let you all know that our precious cheetah Shaka died today, June 22, 2004. Thank God that he died naturally and with people he loved around him. And my hope is that in death, just as in life, he can teach researchers something more about the rare and unusual diseases that plague cheetahs. His sister Zulu has never been alone without her brother, but she apparently knew that something was not right and is not burdened as we humans are with the emotional grief that we put ourselves through. She is doing fine.
Shaka was always "my boy", as I often called him. Zulu is sweet as can be and everyone loves her for it. But Shaka could be challenging at times and I felt so privileged to be selected by him for comfort. When he was a cub he was more skittish than his sister, maybe he felt it was his responsibility to be big and strong, and she was always in tow, letting big brother worry about the monsters. When he was scared as a youngster, I would just open my arms wide and call to him and often he would rush into them, purring loudly. Momma made it okay. And as an adult, magnificent predator, he still would soften his wide eyed fear when he'd see me anywhere with my arms outstretched to him and I would hear the rumble of his purr get louder.
As my Dad said to me just yesterday, when an animal looks at you like that, like you are their savior, it is like being touched by the hand of God. I will never forget it. I will never forget him. He will always live on in the lessons he taught us about cheetah health, and in the funds that he raised for cheetah conservation in the wild, and most importantly in the hearts of all the many people that looked into those beautiful eyes and felt as if they too were touched by the hand of God.
Goodbye my Sweet Boy. I will see you again.
Dawn
