Lynda,
Thank you for telling the whole story. It was very much as was guessed back in March but even so it makes me sad. It really does prove Pred's point, wildlife shouldn't be interfered with. I am glad the 'brothers' are doing well though.AND they are in the Serena area!!! - we made 3 trips from the Serena to Kitchwa Tembo to see them and their Mom last year - that's one long journey for three little cubs!
Anyways, I'm glad it's all out in the open and I can't imagine that it being known will do any harm, in fact, I think it will have the opposite affect - although I really wish that KWS had released the details when it happened - would have stopped the 'storm' brewing!

One more thing, Dana, you mention a court case - what's all that about???? Surely the're not prosecuting someone because of this??

Lynda, I CANNOT wait to read about your trip.

Imelda

The KWS killed Honey ... what could have been worse exactly - from the KWS' point of view in terms of PR, everyone?

They're not much better at PR when it comes to the good things they do, if that is any comfort to anyone....

Whilst they did kill her, it was obvious from the way the truth was being hidden, that they were responsible. I still think this would have made less of a splash if they had simply revealed the mistake at the time, apologised, made sure that lessons were learned and moved forward.

I am surprised they intervened to help the cub when it's injuries were not caused by human intervention but by another animal in a natural situation. That's usually not done so perhaps that's why they were so embarassed when it went wrong.

But everyone makes mistakes and I can't see what has been gained by building up the interest with all the secrecy.

Please ignore my comment - I forgot I am still on "vacation" from commenting on such threads....

Pretty silly to say this now, but I'm going to try not to comment further so on the off chance someone comments directly on my post I don't want them thinking I am playing "hit and run".

Damn, Kavey - you're too quick for me ;-)

Hi Lynda! Thanks so much for telling us what happened. I figured it was something like that but the secrecy made me wonder if it was something even worse.

I love big cats and would hate to see one suffer like the cub with the injured paw, but I think Pred is right...since it was a natural injury not a human injury they should have left it alone and let nature take its course.

Moira

Lynda, thank you for posting that story.

It further strengthens my disgust at shows like "Big Cat Diary," which I watched once, since it turns wild animals into Disney characters, with cute names. I wonder how many people on safari asked to see Honey by name, as if she's a television star. Shows like that destroy much of the wildness of national parks, turning them into amusement parks.

I wonder if KWS would have intervened it the star's son had not been injured?

Michael

Michael, that's a good point indeed.

From my experience in talking to the guide about this, I would have to say though that to the guides & the rangers, Honey was not a star - she was just the cheetah mom with five cubs by the Kichwa Tembo area. The reason I say this is because our guide last year never once mentioned 'oh by the way, that's Honey', as mentioned I am not even sure that that is who I saw, but it was a mom with 5 cubs over by Kichwa Tembo. Once I read about her on the board when I came back, I concluded it had to have been her.

And, this year, when I asked our guide about Honey, he didn't seem to associate the name at first. Only when I said the mother cub that died with the three cubs, did he seem to know who I was talking about. It didn't seem like he, or others referred to her by name. Although I do know from our experience with the kill later that they do sometimes name, amongst themselves, the specific cats in the Mara. (I asked if our cheetah mom had a name and he said 'not yet', I then asked if others did, and he said 'sometimes they do give them names'.)

On the whole though, I do agree with most others - the truth was an accident and speculating on it probably caused more harm than saying "I made a mess, and I'll clean it up" right from the beginning. It was tragic, but it was an accident.

Dana, I do hope I have heard all correctly, and I do apologize to you & everyone else if I have miss-reported anything, or have bad information - this was hearsay after all. Please correct my post if there is anything I have miss-reported.

Lynda: thank you for bringing this story back, it really needed to be told and I hope officials will document what happened with a disclosure in the future.

John: yes, I think there has to be tremendous embarassment for violating the 'non-interference' ethic and having it blow up but it also sounds like there may well have been a medical error too if they let Honey overheat. There is always a danger when you put an animal under but perhaps the proper precautions were not followed leading to a negligent death. This is why its still important for an official statement on what happened. If Dana is correct about a court case I would guess it would involve either negligent handling or violating park rules with the interference (speculation, I have no idea what their rules are).

Cheetah cub mortality runs at very high rates so having two boys make it to maturity would have been a great success and perhaps if left alone the third boy would have learned to cope with his injury. I've seen three legged animals making it in the wild let alone those with a limp so its hard to know what he might have been able to overcome, especially since he had two brothers to try and tag on to. Instead a vibrant mother and all her future contributions were lost and without more interference the 3 boys probably would be gone too. I just hope this story comes out as a lesson to park managers not to intervene in natural happenings. There is so much conservation management these days that sometimes requires handling and accidents can and will happen but choosing to help some animals over natural obstacles taints the whole system. Best that mistakes are admitted and learned from.

This entire fiasco endorses the fact that man should not involve himself in the entirely natural processes of an eco-system. What a bunch of baloney.

Continued selective medical remedies will only help in diluting the gene pool ultimately leading to the collapse of the species. Sadly we should be watching the weak die and the strong survive, horrible as that sounds that is the way it works.

Have you ever seen a weak Impala? A tommy with a broken leg? A buffalo with a heart condition? No...they are eaten .....

But I do support selective sccience that attempts to reinstate species whose numbers have declined as a result of the encroachment of man and his propensity to distribute lead to the head of now endangered species.

The law of unintended consequences strikes again

Thanks, Lynda!

There is rumor that the vet from KWS who had treated/sedated Honey during the intervention was not experienced enough. Apparently, the regular vet was not there that day.

Because of this other vet's lack of experience, Honey was not monitored properly while under the sedation.

Honey was audibly making respiratory distress noises but it went unnoticed because everyone was busy tending to the cubs.

Like Lynda mentioned, the heat and sun finally (and unfortunately) took a toll on her.

An unnecessary death of a rare and beautiful animal.

very well said napamatt
regards - tom

Thank you Lynda for bringing the story to us.

Thanks Lynda, hopefully KWS will have learnt by this horrible event, but I can understand why it was hushed up as they must have felt so bad about it all!

We saw Honey and her 3 cubs on our last game drive in the Mara last October and only knew it was her after a discussion that same evening with a wildlife photographer who visits the area regularly and identified her from our description and location.

It's great that the 3 cubs are now self sufficient.

Africa! how unique is it? It was our best vacation everrrr!

LyndaS:

Thanks for confirming what we had guessed. Tragic. Hopefully, they will learn from this to not fool with Mother Nature.

Kevin from California

P.S. Who is DanaPhx and why in favor of the KWS coverup?

Kevin, I'm not really sure who Dana is, but she is very well known at Kichwa Tembo, she visits there every year. When I mentioned she said to say hi, everyone there knew her and was looking forard to seeing her again in Sept.

Dana, come back on the post, let us know the answer?