Unlike a zoo, this place provides large chunks of land for the animals. A mile long catwalk goes over the different areas so you can view the animals without a cage in the way, yet you're completely safe.
The lioness who features in the following photos (three of the four, anyway) had just laid down for a bit of a rest on a set of platforms provided in her pen when a rabbit came running right up to her. I couldn't believe it would be so dumb, so watched in horror and fascination as it ran to directly below the lioness, stopped, and stared directly up at her. For a moment, it looked like the lioness was going to let this transgression go, but then she leapt up and shot off after the rabbit. If you look at the first two photos, you'll see the rabbit is also in each photo, running for its life (top right of each photo).
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| Notice the dust cloud at her feet. |
Now, the thing about this lioness was that she had just eaten. That, plus it was super hot out. She wasn't chasing the rabbit to eat it, rather to play. Partway across the field she did the lioness version of flapping her hands at the bunny and saying, "Forget it."
Only she didn't forget it after all, because then the dumb bunny ran straight into her den, which consisted of a buried concrete pipe. Seeing this, she took off, diving straight into the pipe. A moment later two rabbits burst out of the top of the other end of the pipe, making a run for it.
Talk about multiplying like bunnies!
The lioness sauntered out of the den, ignoring the rabbits on the other end of the field, and wandered back to the platforms to rest.
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| So tired, her tongue is hanging out. |
Now for some links.
Accepting Submissions
Crossed Genres Magazine has monthly themed editions, and they're seeking short stories. The September theme they're accepting submissions for is Second Contact. Pays $.05 cents per issue. Deadline September 30 (future themes and deadlines are posted on the website). Science fiction and fantasy.
Pinknantucket Press has a twice a year journal called Materiality, with deadlines in March and September each year. They pay $AUS 10-20. Fiction, essay, images, and poetry focusing on the physical and material. Current deadline is September 30.
Bundoran Press is seeking political science fiction short stories for an anthology. Pays 5.5 cents per word, Canadian. Deadline September 30.
Fringeworks has a call out for short stories for Terror Tree's Pun Book of Horror. Deadline September 30. Pays in royalties. Looking for horror stories with a solid pun involved.
Buttontapper Press seeks "literature that presses buttons in three distinct genres: humorous erotica, ninja novellas, and cheeky haiku." Pay unknown. Deadlines begin September 30.
Contests:
The Puritan Magazine is holding The Second Annual Thomas Morton Memorial Prize in Literary Excellence. Deadline for entry is September 30. Best story gets $900, best poem gets $600. Each also get a set of books with their prize. $10 submission fee.
Glimmer Train accepts both standard submissions for the magazine and entries via their four contests per year. Regularly submitted items pay $700 on acceptance. The contest prizes vary. There is a contest and a regular reading closing September 30: Open Fiction, 1st place pays $2500. The Standard submission pays the usual $700. There is a fee to enter the contest, but not for the standard reading.
Lee & Low Books is offering the New Voices Writers Award. This award will be offered for the best children's picture book by a writer of color. First prize is $1000 and publication.
Have you ever known a dumber bunny? Anything to share? Publishing news? Any of these catch your attention?
May you find your Muse.
9 comments:
Those are some great pictures. All of the bunnies around here are mostly braindead, instead of running toward lions they run toward all of the cars. I'm pretty sure they just naturally have a death wish.
Maybe he had a hundred baby bunnies at home and was begging to be eaten?
There's no such thing as a black panther Shannon? I'm crushed! That rabbit thing is funny since I can see a cat going through all that for a game of "catch the rabbit." In the end, the heat saved them though.
That's about how my cat looks when he sleeps, and I bet he wishes he could his paws on some rabbit.
So the term "dumb bunny" has a reason behind it! On the other hand, the dummy did get away. Haha. Beautiful kitty -- whom I would not like chasing me.
Ten gold stars for The Big Bang Theory reference.
Also, I wish that was on video. They were great pictures and you really painted a picture, but I still wish I could have seen the entire thing. haha
Thanks for sharing the great pictures. Maybe the bunny was trying to be a distraction for the other bunny? If he was, it worked because they both got away.
LOL, poor dumb bunnies. They're lucky the lioness was already full.
Great pics and I'd love to be able to visit this sanctuary.
ABftS, they do the same thing around here. There are obviously too many doofus bunnies around here. They also repeatedly rip a board out of my neighbor's fence so they can go in and out.
Alex, hahahaha, that could very well be it. "Please, just take me out!"
Maurice, I tell you, it crushed me, too. The more research I did, the more it turned out that "panther" was being used as an all inclusive big cat catch all, and that only leopards and jaguars (plus smaller creatures, like ocelots) have scientifically proven black versions. Sob.
Andrew, we have a regular little warren living under our porch and my cat Cleo gazes at them through the window and twitches. She REALLY wants to go chase them down.
Jan, that's true, the dumb bunny DID survive! Maybe it knew the cat wasn't hungry and was just up for a game?
Rachel, hee hee. I wish I had it on film, too. I considered switching to video camera on my phone, but it all happened so fast I was just happy to catch it on camera. I was afraid it would be out of focus. I need to take a separate video camera when I next take the kids up (I'm going back when it cools off to try and catch a glimpse of the black leopards).
Susanne, hmmm, I wonder what that other bunny was doing in there then?
Julie, oh, it is such a fantastic sanctuary! The animals seemed well cared for, and still "wild."
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