leopard’s territory—every place around here is a leopard’s territory—so he could get killed,” Frank said. “But what are you going to do?” Just as he was unhitching the tailgate to the Land Rover, a truck drove up. It was an acquaintance of Frank’s, a local cattle rancher who loathed predators and disapproved of efforts aimed at their preservation but was nevertheless on good terms with the biologist. They stood and talked for a while—too long, as it turned out.
After an extended palaver, Frank scooped up the leopard in his arms, still chatting with the rancher. A low, deep snarl emanated from the cat. Frank looked down, and the leopard looked up at him peevishly. The anesthetic was wearing off. “Um—I think we have a situation here,” Frank said. The cat abruptly voided its bladder, soaking Frank’s shirt with pungent urine. Its snarl waxed in volume and rose in timbre.
The rancher almost did a back flip as he vaulted behind Frank’s Land Rover. He pulled a compact semiautomatic pistol from a holster at the small of his back and shakily pointed it at Frank and the leopard. Along with their taste for dogs, African leopards are known for unmitigated ferocity if cornered or wounded. It is not uncommon to hear of multiple maulings—leopards chewing and clawing through a group of people, one after another, before escaping, rather than taking the most direct and expeditious route for egress.
The leopard’s flanks had begun twitching now; its lips pulled back from its teeth, and its yowls grew louder. Its eyes seemed to bulge from their sockets. Frank, meanwhile, kept the ninety-pound animal nestled securely in his arms. He walked calmly around the truck and proceeded fifty yards or so into the bush, where he gently placed the leopard on the ground at the edge of a small clearing. The rancher muttered imprecations and holstered his pistol. Frank rejoined us; he stank abominably of cat urine. We watched as the leopard got shakily to its feet, glanced darkly at us, and skulked off into the bush.
FIGURE 5. Laurence Frank prepares to release the aforementioned leopard to the wild. The cat was regaining consciousness when this shot was taken, and worries were growing that it would begin mauling people. (Glen Martin)
“Gee,” said Frank. “That went well, didn’t it?”
By any measure, Frank has accomplished real things on the ground in Kenya. He has built good relations with tribal people, white ranchers, and lodge owners. He has had great success in eliminating the Furadan poisonings that were wiping out predators across the country. As a persistent, though never didactic, advocate for conservation, he is changing human reactions to lions and hyenas one person at a time. Pessimistic by nature, he is quick to characterize his life’s work as bootless and unproductive, but there is no doubt Kenya’s predators would be in even worst straits if he had not been in their corner for the past forty years.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
