It's just after 4am and there's a long day ahead working on the next stage of Asa's current den. He'll be off contact with everyone but "immediate family" (four forest guards and me) for up to three weeks while he adjusts. This image doesn't quite get the blue of his eyes and believe me, while he looks cute and cuddly, well, he's a leopard, he bites and scratches hard and doesn't tolerate anyone outside his family. This is exactly the behaviour we need for the rest of his rehabilitation, he needs to retain as much wildness as possible to be effective. Just to clear things up (again!), Asa himself will not be rewilded but will be used for study of the process which is very complicated. Less than 40% of leopard cubs survive so Asa is in the "going to live" bracket now.
It's taken a lot of work to get to the level of trust we now have. Yesterday afternoon was the first complete time out I've had in ages with Asa and my other work filling my days. I slept soundly. But now it's back into it. I'll have a much more detailed report soon and once again I'm behind in messages ... so much to do but it's worth every effort... and just a quick reminder, Asa images are available at www.wildtiger.org/asa with another exclusive image (5 only) ready soon. Cheers Jack.
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