New Book by Jasmine L. Quan – 'Gigia and Me! An Extraordinary Journey': How Her Bond with a Cat Healed a Broken Life

Jasmine rewilded tigers. Then she drowned in debt and despair—until Gigia, a fearless tabby, helped her reclaim hope, purpose, and a new path.

Gigia didn’t just walk into my life—she saved it. With her quiet charm, she reminded me of the power of love, laughter, and finding beauty in life’s smallest moments.”

— Jasmine L. Quan

"Cats know how to win our love without ever asking for it."

This simple yet profound sentiment captures the heart of "GIGIA AND ME! An Extraordinary Journey" (also available in Italian as "Il Dono di Gigia"), the inspiring new memoir by Jasmine L. Quan, which chronicles her life-changing bond with her cat, Gigia (pronounced as "JEE-jah"). Much like James Bowen’s "A Street Cat Named Bob", Quan’s story is a powerful testament to the transformative power of the human-animal bond—a connection capable of healing wounds, reigniting hope, and redefining life itself.
Jasmine L. Quan’s life has been nothing short of extraordinary. A former professional in the fashion and luxury sector, she traded couture for conservation, dedicating herself to the South China Tiger Project—an ambitious initiative to reintroduce tigers into the wild. Her work, featured in documentaries like Last Chance Tiger and covered by global media outlets such as The Los Angeles Times, Science, and the BBC, highlights her unwavering commitment to wildlife.

But even the strongest spirits can falter. After losing nearly everything—her career, home, and sense of purpose—Quan found herself at rock bottom. During this dark chapter, Gigia, a small domestic cat with a big personality, entered her life. What began as a chance encounter blossomed into an extraordinary partnership between a woman and a cat that would change both their lives forever.

"Gigia and Me!" is more than just a story about a woman and her cat—it’s a celebration of resilience, joy, and rediscovery. Drawing from her expertise in rewilding tigers, Quan applied her knowledge to create a rich and adventurous life for Gigia. Together, they explored Italy’s enchanting villages—from the sun-drenched shores of Calabria to the charming canals of Venice. Along the way, Gigia taught Quan invaluable lessons, and their journey continues.

"Gigia didn’t just walk into my life—she saved it. With her quiet charm, she reminded me of the power of love, trust, laughter, and finding beauty in life’s smallest moments," Quan says.

Packed with humour, heart, and practical advice, the book also features an easy-to-follow appendix with instructions for over a dozen cat tricks, making it a must-read for animal lovers and aspiring pet trainers alike.

"GIGIA AND ME!" is a heartfelt tribute to the magic of unexpected connections and the profound impact animals have on our lives. Whether you’re an animal lover, someone who has found solace in a four-legged friend, or simply seeking inspiration, this book will resonate deeply.

Title : GIGIA AND ME! An Extraordinary Journey
Author : Jasmine L. Quan
Publisher : Accornero Edizioni
Available Worldwide on Amazon: :
Amazon US: https://a.co/d/9XgQoUM
Amazon UK: https://amzn.eu/d/iIZcDwf


BOOK BACK COVER:

“Jasmine, once a tiger rewilder, found herself drowning in over four million dollars’ worth of debt. She was broken, and defeated. Enter Gigia, an emerald-eyed tabby born in a quaint Italian village.
Their extraordinary partnership unfolds into a gripping tale of resilience and transformation. Together, they challenge assumptions, shatter expectations, and inspire Jasmine to step back into the world.
What makes Gigia so remarkable, and how did she spark such a profound change?”

What other authors say about “Gigia and Me!”:
“A book as wonderful and magical as Gigia the cat!”
-Anthony Frewin, author of The Lion Of Canterbury
“A heartwarming and inspiring journey of determination, self-discovery, and triumph over adversity made more poignant and entertaining through the antics and devotion of one very colourful cat.”
-Lynn Santer, author of Sins of Life

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jasmine L. Quan earned a BA from Beijing University and dual MBA/MA degrees from Wharton and the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. With determination, she achieved milestones across industries, managing Gucci’s global licensing before transitioning to wildlife conservation after witnessing the struggles of endangered species.

At the forefront of the South China Tiger Project, Jasmine led an ambitious tiger rewilding initiative, overseeing the breeding and training of more than a dozen tigers for over a decade. Her work gained global recognition in outlets such as The Los Angeles Times, Science, BBC, and CBS 60 Minutes, culminating in the documentary Last Chance Tiger.

She has authored two previous books. Today, Jasmine advises diverse industries, supports tiger conservation through her charity, China Tiger Revival (www.chinatigerrevival.org.uk), and is adapting Rewilded: Saving the South China Tiger into an audiovisual format on YouTube (@RewildingTigers).

"GIGIA AND ME!" is not just a book—it’s a celebration of resilience, love, and the extraordinary ways animals enrich our lives. Let Gigia’s story remind you that even in life’s darkest moments, a tiny paw can light the way forward.

Follow Gigia, the Travel Cat, on social media as she presents her own book on tour and explores Italy in style!
Instagram: @GigiaTravelCat
Facebook: @GigiaTravelCat
Facebook: Gigia And Me! An Extraordinary Journey
TikTok: @GigiaTravelCat
YouTube: @GigiaTravelCat

FOR INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, OR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Email: accorneroedizioni@gmail.com

NEGATIVITY OR CREATIVITY?

"Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge." -Eckehart Tolle.

In a situation where, figuratively speaking, my life hangs in the balance, the sayings of E.Tolle become particularly relevant and insightful. I have now come to appreciate many of his sayings as well as those from other sages much more in context. They provide me with tranquility and courage to deal with my surreally challenging personal problems.

Two years have gone by since my life was put on hold, and I have been living in limbo, in every sense of the word. I had dreams that were broken, plans destroyed, and hopes dashed. However, my spirit has not been broken. If anything, I have discovered a spiritual realm which I would not have found a merely two years ago.

The spiritual teachings of E. Tolle took on new meaning recently when I was invited to speak and attend an inspiring workshop which explored alternative ways of helping conservation of big cats. This taps into the vast reservoir of ancient spiritual wisdom of our ancestors.

Even in not too distant past, tigers were worshipped in Chinese culture as gods, much like tigers in India as well as White Lions in Africa. It was only with the onset of modern weaponry that the mysterious powers of the tigers were challenged and destroyed. What followed was the rapid demise of tigers in China. Parallel exist for almost all big predators around the world.  It may not be possible at all to restore the suitable historical status the big predators once occupied in our society, but if we don't try in every way we can, we would lose these magical and mysterious symbols of the wild even faster.

Many big predators were once worshipped as gods and regarded as sacred. They protected our lands and waters. Their disappearance happened hand in hand with the destruction of nature. If we don't act now, WHEN should we act?? If we don't do anything about it, WHO should do anything about it?

Although I have lost physical contacts with the Chinese tigers I rewilded and bred during ten years of my work, my mission in wildlife conservation appears not only not yet finished but has become wider and even more important, as I have been invited to speak at and become part of a larger group of inspiring people with the same goals of saving the sacred big cats and their ancestral lands from destruction. I feel very privileged to have been able to exchange and learn at various workshops & conferences in the last two years, which infuse our new charity China Tiger Revival with new energy and identity.

Well, in Chinese tiger symbolism, we say “Riding the tiger, one can not get off”.

Isn’t this one of these spaces created from negativity?

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." Said Laozi.

Statement Concerning Recent Media Reports on My Divorce Proceedings

Given the press reporting of my divorce proceedings with my ex-husband Stuart Bray, I would like to make the following statements.

1. Stuart Bray had complete control of the finances of Save China’s Tigers (SCT) during my marriage.

2. I trusted him 100% given his extensive banking and financial background.

3. During my tenure I made my best efforts to ensure that all third party donations were channeled directly to the tiger project.

4. My concern about certain actions my ex-husband had taken regarding the charity's financial administration was the catalyst for the divorce, as I felt it was immensely damaging to my life's work with the tigers;

5. I set up a new charity, so as to make a clean break from Save China’s Tigers (UK) where my Ex-husband is the sole director. I also want to be able to ensure that my supporter's donations are handled 100% correctly by the new charity.

6. Since my involvement with SCT was "terminated" by Stuart Bray on July 24th 2012 in response to my inquiry to his actions, I have had nothing whatsoever to do with that organisation, and as such can take no responsibility whatsoever for any current activities.

The Trials of a Tiger Mother- China Daily Dec 4, 2013

In returning big cats to the wild, Quan Li has proven her critics wrong

Quan Li says she fell in love with tigers when she first saw them in a Beijing zoo as a girl, unaware that one day she would help save these tigers from extinction.

Quan, a former fashion executive who started a charity to help introduce South China Tigers back into the wild in 2000, has proven that rewilding tigers works, because the five animals she took from China to South Africa have now turned into 14.

Read More:http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/weekly/2013-11/29/content_17141046.htm

Hunting-training Madonna’s Three Beautiful Daughters

Only two and half months passed but Madonna’s three little daughters have grown that much more. They are still as adorable as before but have gained a lot more confidence by now. Even the shyest of all, Zeta, ventures to come out and investigate me, albeit keeping a long distance between us.  Now I certainly don’t have to be worried that they would be too wild that we couldn’t help them in time of veterinary need, or that they would be too stressed from human presence causing potential death.

They are extremely inquisitive. Anything new or that moves will focus their attention. Vita, formerly named Xa, is the most daring, being always the first to approach the object, and trailed closely by Yoya. Zeta is still the shyest girl of all, preferring to keep a distance or hide inside the trees to observe.  Like any shy creatures, she needs mom the most, who certainly gives her  plenty more confidence. Mom Madonna seems to understand this, as each time Zeta is out of sight for too long, she goes in search of her, calling. And once united, Madonna would shower Zeta with chuffs, head rubs and sweet tender talk.

The little girls reached 7 months before we started giving them “ formal” hunting training. Of course they had been seen chasing the odd mongooses and birds from time to time and I am sure nature keeps them busy and entertained, out of the sight of us humans.  In the wild, tiger moms would bring her little cubs game to play with in order to slowly build their hunting abilities: a small deer or antelope, a bird, and etc.  Our tigresses do the same with their cubs.  By the time they reached 7 months, their body sizes have increased enough that bigger prey would no longer be a huge scare or threat to the cubs, and that they would also be more explorative and daring to approach the game, slowly discovering that it is actually their food or prey.

Initially, the cubs were terrified of a big creature like that of an antelope and would flee promptly. But they are observant and learn fast. Once they see how mom goes about making a hunt for them, they would imitate. A few days ago, when faced with a fair good sized antelope, Vita and Yoya put on their good performance, alternatively charming it by chuffing at it, or attack it head on. Even the shy Zeta joined in for the fun. They cornered the antelope to the fence but the antelope, smart by its own account, faced the cubs head on. Tigers normally attack by stalking and ambushing from behind. So when the prey faced the tiger, the tiger would be at a loss as to what to do, before coming up with a way to effectively tackle the prey.  I had seen that with Hope, JenB and Coco.

Vita sisters wouldn’t give up. She cautiously tried sneaking behind a bush to access the antelope’s flank. Yoya followed in her foot steps and tried from another side. But the antelope was a formidable opponent. I was worried the cubs would be too reckless and get injured in the process, so I was glad to see even Vita and Yoya still have their cautious side to them. In the end though it took mom Madonna to secure the meal for her family.  Once Madonna made the kill, she left her eager daughter Vita, who was imitating her, to drag the prey into the shade of the trees. With her mouth on the carcass’s neck, she toddled left and right..

Vita and Yoya were again leading the hunt today, but Zeta was too timid to come forward. I couldn’t see exactly what was going on due to the distance and the bushes  between us, but I could see the tree branches moving and the occasional orangy stripes flashing back & forth. The cubs were certainly trying their best to get close to their prey from every direction, but the antelope was no easy enemy either. Madonna who would normally finish the prey off to secure the meal certainly had a different plan today. After having taken a look of the situation, she decided to just leave her cubs to the job. Emboldened by mom’s presence in the vicinity however, Zeta joined the hunt.

The three little daughters put in a good show, jumping about and playing with the antelope as well as with one another.  After some time the antelope was finally pulled into the shallow water of the river bed. There the cubs had an advantage, even though they appeared to be a little bit tired. More commotion ensured and I could almost hear the water splashing in the distance. It took quite a long time, before I suddenly saw one of the cubs, I believe to be Vita, had her mouth on the neck of the antelope. And that, was a turning point for her, and worth a celebration! Vita didn’t let the antelope loose until she was certain it was dead. Then another one, most likely Yoya, took up the choking action, wrapping her little mouth around the neck of the antelope.

Research had shown that cats learn the fastest from their mother, second fastest from other cats, third from humans and last by figuring out themselves. We have good case of them learning from each other. I am confident Zeta will also catch up soon.

The three daughters will be nine months old in three days. They are certainly off for a good start!

Li Quan from Laohu Valley Reserve

6th July 2012

Cathay a Role Model & Huwaa a Born Hunter

April  5, 2012 On the Trail of Prey

Cathay was sighted on the prowl in the middle section of the Tigers Roars camp this morning.  Guess it was time to hunt as the last kills of three antelopes were a few days ago. The cubs were nowhere to be seen. I drove to the riverine area and waited. After some time roars came closer and closer and it turned out to be Cathay calling her cubs. I followed her movement up the hill where she lied down, where all her three children were frolcking in that same area, all the time within my eye view but well camouflaged in the golden grass! But how did Cathay know they were there?!

Soon she got up and walked off and one by one her cubs followed, chasing and jumping on top of one another along the way.  Huwaa and Beta disappeared into the trees inside the riverine area  following mom’s trail but Alpha had another plan and went in a different direction. Well, I thought all of them found their places to rest for the day as it was 8.30am, even though it was not a very hot day.

I was calling it a morning but decided to drive the long way out. I was  however taken by surprise when I saw Cathay with Huwaa and Beta in the middle section of the camp along the fence. It dawned on me that Cathay had gone back to gather her kids on a hunt! Slowly Mom and cubs moved forward in the direction of the blesbuck. It was evident the children were at the early stages of their hunting training, as Huwaa made an attempt at the antelope too soon, scaring them away. In between the wait, the cubs either played with one another, or molested their mom to kill time. Only seven blesbuck remained and it wouldn’t be so easy to hunt, especially with the cubs being more a hindrance than help. Patience is a learned skill even for the most lethal of all hunters -the big cats.

At one stage, the blesbuck ended up behind the three tigers, though a long distance away. Cathay turned around and started walking back with patience and resilience. Just when I was thinking what a great pity that Alpha chose to be lazy, when I suddenly saw him trailing behind the blesbuck in the opposite side of the camp! I apologized to him for having misjudged him.  The Blesbuck is however a formidable enemy and a tiger could never catch them by outrunning them.  Patience, judgement and strategy are however in a good hunter’s favour and Cathay has plenty of that, plus years of experience.

Eventually the blesbuck ran across the camp into the riverine area with dense vegetation and trees. The tigers started moving back.  I guess Cathay’s strategy is to push the prey into the tree-lined riverine area where it would be easier to hunt.  I however had to leave to attend a conference call.

April 6 2012 Huwaa’s First Witnessed Blesbuck Hunt

Early this morning, Cathay was tracking the blesbuck again, sniffing the grass, & teaching her cubs by example. The cubs followed suit. Huwaa was marching forward much ahead of her family, moving quickly among the grass but was soon joined by the rest of the family. The tigers zig-zagged, playing along the way, heading with great intent towards the blesbok in the far distance.  Cathay, to show her cubs that patience pays, would stop and lie down from time to time and watch, while Alpha and Beta did not yet grasp the meaning of that, and constantly pestering Cathay. Huwaa was charging forward leaving everyone behind. The blesbuck got more and more skittish and eventually they ran across the camp to the opposite side of the camp towards the riverine area. Cathay turned around to follow and disappeared into the big donga.

Suddenly we glimpsed a blesbuck that has fallen behind the herd, likely having tripped on a stone.  Before we knew what happened, Huwaa appeared out of nowhere like a flash of light and landed on top of the unlucky beast! What a spectacular hunt! I had underestimated Huwaa,  the sweet cat full of nervous energy.  I quickly drove up to her kill site, finding her mouth tightly wrapped around the blesbuck neck like a real hunter, not letting go.  Beta had also arrived but was giving negative help by dragging and biting the leg of the blesbuck. The blesbuck was still struggling but Huwaa held on. In about 5 minutes, the prey finally stopped moving and Huwaa kept holding on for a little more, making sure the prey was dead.

How proud I am of her! This is our first witnessed hunt of blesbok by Huwaa and she has already proven her skills.  Thinking back how sickly she was while being hand-reared at zoo, and that the warnings by the zoo vet  that she might not live long due to her heart echo and that we ought to treat her with ultimate care, I feel, yet once again, that we have proven a natural environment for the tigers does wonders. A wild creature belongs to the beautiful nature, no matter where it is. They certainly don’t belong to cages.

Mom Cathay, despite she must have been hungry, didn’t interfere through the entire process. She let Huwaa drag the carcass towards the shade of a bush, but Huwaa’s effort was stunted by her brothers who tried to drag it to another part of the world. Cathay intervened, picking up the carcass and dragging it next to a bush,  and leaving it there for her cubs while herself went a distance away to watch. What a wonderful mother she is!  Huwaa, like all tigers that have just made kills, needed a rest and let her brothers tackling the hard skin of the carcass in turn. They eventually succeeded tearing a hole through the butt allowing them to feed. Mom came over another time to drag the carcass closer to the next & bigger bush. I can see her intention-as the sun was shining harder and the cloud dissipated, she wanted to get her family and their food to better shade. All this time, she didn’t put in a single bite into the carcass. After a while, she got up, and started off probably for another hunt.

Well we certainly had a “Good Friday” ourselves!

April 7 2012 Harvest

If yesterday was a good Friday, today was certainly a better Saturday for both tigers and humans at Laohu Valley. To start with, we were able to get a glimpse of Madonna’s beautiful little daughters  by the stony riverbed, who are still indistinguishable from one another. While we were  waiting for Madonna’s cubs to appear from the trees, Madonna came along the river line, calling her cubs. After a few minutes, her three daughters indeed emerged out of the dense vegetation, happily running towards mom. However, instead of resting where we could see them, Madonna leaped into the thicket with her cubs following closely behind.

I was soon able to find out why.  Madonna’s family was in fact heading towards the 40 ha camp where Cathay’s family reside. Just when Madonna’s cubs had appeared from the trees to answer her calls, our Dutch student Kimberly’s voice had also came through on the radio-Cathay had just made a kill!

A while later, Sanet and I drove up the hill to observe Cathay’s family and saw Cathay leisurely walking about. While we were just wondering where she hid her catch Sanet spotted another tiger dragging a carcass into the trees on the other side of the little river.  We reckon this could not possibly be the blesbuck Cathay had just killed as it would be silly of Cathay to drag her kill from up the hill all the way across the river to the other side of the bank  & away from the trees. This must be another kill, particular since the antelope seemed pretty agitated and running around in the distance.  On closer inspection through the binoculars, it turned out the dragger was Huwaa. So this little girl must have made yet another kill!!

We wondered if any other blesbuck had lost its life and started counting what was left. But with the blesbuck running it was hard.  Repeated attempt to count yielded however the same number of 16, while an hour ago Sanet counted 21. Could this be true that Cathay’s family caught five antelope in a matter of one hour? It is hard to believe but this happened before when Hulooo brothers went on a rampage, catching 9 blesbok in a row.  I drove around the camp to get a better count and in the end had to resign to the fact, that a total worth of US$1000 of antelope were taken by Cathay’s family this morning. I am sure Huwaa contributed a couple and I also hope the boys, Alpha and Beta, learned a trick or two.

So Madonna must have heard the commotions in the distance and gathered her cubs to the battle ground to share some excitement.

April 8, 2012

Another 3 blesbuck missing by the end of the day….

MICROCHIPPING MADONNA’S LOTTERY WIN

Madonna and Cubs

Jan 28, 2011

Everything was going according to plan. We managed to get Madonna into another camp leaving her 3 babies alone so we can walk into the camp, catch them and microchip them. Joseph was called immediately and it would take him 2.5 hours to drive from Kimberly, but unfortunately he had to take care of an emergency veterinary operation for a horse somewhere first.

I informed team my rough idea:  we were to station ourselves at different locations of the camp, thus preventing the cubs from getting close so they could potentially crawl under/through/over the fence, all of which had been part of our Laohu experience!  And we were to catch the cubs with capture net and fishing net, a effective and harmless technique learned from Chinese zoos. In the end we agreed on a plan, that just before the vet arrives we would proceeding with the operation and two of the three cubs would be put into each of the two travel boxes while a third will receive microchip. Microchipping itself doesn’t last long-it’s the preparation that takes time. But having had plenty of experiences and learning from past mistakes I think our plan covered all grounds. However more often than not, dealing with nature does not go according to plan. 

Xa in the net

I was so looking forward to it. Not that I care so much about the microchipping which is a government requirement, but we could use this opportunity to sex the cubs. Last week, I was telling our tiger supervisor Vivienne that for some reason all the three cubs I observed through my cameras and binos were females. Was I imposing my wish on what I saw? Vivienne said the next day that she definitely saw a male. Well, I said, in that case hopefully we had at least two girls. We badly need more female tigers to address the imbalance between males and females in our second generation South China Tigers born in SA.

One hour, two hours passed. Still no news from Joseph. I was worried about the cubs as today was quite a sunny day. We moved the little concrete water tray next to the big tree which they preferred. Madonna showed up from the deep thicket of 7 Ha camp and watched the commotion, attentively. As soon as they saw mom the cubs all came out to the fence trying to get to mom. At one point one of the cub was zapped by the electrified tripwire which immediately got Madonna to return to the fence, just when she was about to head back into the cool thicket.

It was not until 5pm before we heard from Joseph, but he was only one hour away now from us.

We sprang into action. We used the big capture net to form a barrier so if the cubs would run they would get caught into it. Then we approached the cubs who were now all cowered into the corner of the camp. Madonna, watching from the other side of the fence, started charging the fence at us but got shocked by the electricity which made her even angrier. I kept telling her we were not stealing her babies and they would be fine but all the same, she gave us menacing growls and charges.

Yoya

It turned out to be fairly easy to scoop up the first and second cub with the fishing net, however they tried to threaten us with their little snarls. They were still quite small though very solid and strong. They were put into two cages. The last one was a bit of challenge as it escaped the fishing scoop and ran to the capture net, where it got caught.  Hein scooped it up and Joseph was, as usual, very quick in his actions and micro-chipped the cub. Time to sex the cub! A girl! She was given a temp name Xa.

The second microchipping also went very smoothly as the cubs seemed to freeze once they were caught. We took head shots from different sides and body shots in order to identify them, as they looked remarkably similar. I lifted her leg to sex her, yet another female!! She was nick-named Yoya and like the first one she was immediately put back into her Ravine camp and she also ran straight into the dense vegetations of the stream.

The third one proved to be more difficult to handle. First we had trouble getting the cub out of the cage. Then the cub was fighting us. We managed to get the chip in and photos taken in the end, not without a bit of casualties. At one point my finger was bitten but no harm done. However, Thinus (our assistant reserve manager) got a bit on his arm, which still looked bloody after the operation completed.

Well what is the chance that ALL 3 cubs in our FIRST ever TRIPLET litter are ALL girls?? When I gently lifted the cub’s little but strong leg, I couldn't contain my excitement! INDEED, ALL 3 of Madonna’s cubs are baby girls!!!!  

WE WON A LOTTERY! AND WE ARE ROCKING!!  We named her Zeta for now.

Feb 2^st  2012

Yoya being examined

After Microchipping, we left all the gates connecting three camps open, hoping Madonna would reunite with her 3 cubs overnight. However, the next morning on Jan 29^th she was found inside the 2 Ha Ravine camp with two cubs, pacing with another cub on the other side of the fence inside 7 Ha Catkins camp.  For the whole family to get back together, either the lone cub had to come through to the mini-management camp to the Ravine, or Madonna had to come to Catkins to fetch her. During afternoon monitoring this had not yet happened. We managed to coax Madonna into Catkins, hoping the lone cub would follow her back into Mini-camp, then back to Ravine. But the cub refused to cross the threshold. It had to be the same cub that refused to cross the gate in reverse the other day! We left them for the night but by this morning, the status quo remained the same. I had to find ways to get them all back together so Madonna doesn’t have to be caught spending time with two households. The best method again, is the fishing scoop net.

But easily said than done! The cub was much smarter than us! And certainly a lot faster than us! We spent the day yesterday figuring out way to catch her, using Madonna as lure, but needless to say we failed. Her little told her not to trust us and her little legs can certainly run. In the darkness we abandoned our effort to reunite the family and let Madonna decide if she should spend time in Catkins or in Ravines and with which cubs, leaving the two gates between the three camps open. It was not without pity that I retired for the evening, thinking how much of a challenge it was for a tiger mother. Despite having to go back and  forth between the three camps, at no time did she express any sign of anger or impatience to her screaming and demanding cubs, and always showered them with tenderness and patience, no matter how helpless she felt…

The next morning, one more cub moved into Catkins and the cry of the lone cub in Ravine camp was loud and clear. Despite that the eland was not completely finished though Madonna’s family did an impressive job eating most part of it, we decided to give Madonna some fresh carcass. Thinus shot two blesbok and tied them together in the mini-management camp to prevent her from dragging it away, and Vivienne blew the whistle. This time however, Madonna refused to come out to the sound of the whistle or food. She must be getting back to us for using a springbok as bait last night but not giving her the full deal!

Zeta in the net

Another night and no one appeared, not even Madonna. At this point I began to worry seriously that should the cubs be split too long, Madonna could lose patience and stop caring one of them. I doubt tiger mothers do that but still I feared. We had no idea where Madonna was or any of the cubs was. I decided that we should be on whole day monitoring so our staff would do the observation in turn. But by 4pm, not even a shadow of anyone in sight. I was praying that this would be a sure sign that Madonna and her cubs had all gotten together. By 5pm however, only Madonna and one cub was sighted but they soon also disappeared, which made me worry seriously once more.

A tiger-loving journalist from Hong Kong was visiting us to report on our project yesterday. Just when I was prepared to tell him that he was out of luck with Madonna’s cubs and that my team ought to prepare for a day search the next day, when all three cubs were spotted grouping together on Catkins side of the fence line with Ravine Camp.  I was elated..

Zeta taking temperature

I drove into Catkins camp with Ivan the journalist, and we were soon reward with the most incredible sighting: Madonna strolling with three tiny cubs trailing behind her, towards us. She seemed a bit startled when she saw my vehicle, but calmly went into tall grass and lied down just a few meters from us. The cubs, with the aid of the onset of dusk, appeared to be bolder than usual, moving even closer to our vehicle. They soon joined mom demanding milk from her. The they played, chasing one another in the grass and amongst trees. As the light dimmed further, the cubs seemed even more bullish, with one of them approached our vehicle to within 5 meters. She was then distracted by the big stone and started investigating it: looking from one side to another and climbing on top etc. This undaunted little cub turned out to be Xa.

At sunset of today’s sunless day, I again saw Madonna’s family of four. While mom was feeding in adjacent camps, the cubs put on the most exciting show in nature’s stage: chasing and tumbling on top of one another, wrestling and hugging etc. When mom finished eating, they jumped on top of mom demanding to be fed, to which Madonna obeyed obediently and with such love and gentleness. She licked and hugged her cubs tenderly and watch them frolicking with such pride and content..

-From Li Quan at Laohu Valley Reserve, South Africa

MADONNA’S THREE CUBS ARE A HANDFUL

Madonna & 327’s three cubs are now three months old. They were rarely seen for the past three months, under the remarkable care of Madonna in complete natural environment, isolated from even other tigers, never mind humans. However, now that they are mobile, we have to habituate them to humans a bit for a number of reasons. If they are too wild, we will have trouble handling them in times of veterinary need, such as illness. 

Princess was a good example. The governments require that these precious animals be microchipped and registered, but we failed to catch her for microchipping when she was two months old. When she was one year old, we gave another try, but this time it required sedatives, which tigers and cheetahs react notoriously badly.  However, we never managed to catch her, as she flew through the electrified gate between her camp and an adjacent one, after seeing what was done to her brother King Henry.

So wherever we can, we tried to avoid immobilizing the tigers to reduce the risks to them. 3-months old cubs are getting pretty strong to handle but in a month it would be impossible to handle without sedatives, particularly since they have such brute force. So we began the process of their habituation from a couple of weeks ago.

To begin with, a big wilderbeest carcass was laid out for Madonna and her family in the mini camp next to their 2ha riverine camp. Too big to drag it back into the dense riverine area for her family to consume, she resigned at calling her cubs out from the trees to supper eventually. The cubs revealed their beautiful and adorable little faces finally to us. They certainly required time to get used to us, as they kept running for cover into the bushes or behind the big tree. None the less, sometimes they would calm down and head back to where mom would be lying once they see the humans are not being too erratic.

A few days later, another young eland bull of about 300 kg was provided to Madonna. Having eland for breakfast for the first time in her life, she was initially unsure what to do, dragging one leg or another in her attempt to drag this huge carcass to the riverine area for her large family. But the eland is nearly three times her weight and refused to move an inch. She had to settle for this mini-camp again and gathered her kids from the trees and led them to breakfast.  By the end of the day, a significant dent had been made from the rear of the eland carcass. It was comical to see one cub’s head was nearly completely buried within the dent.

The cubs certainly regarded us humans as threats, despite mom Madonna’s encouragement to stay in sight for us. Every time we even made some movements, the cubs would dash for the bushes close or far. Yesterday morning I saw all three of them rushing to the corner of the little camp, at the junction with 7ha camp where TigerWoods is currently residing. TigerWoods’ was envious of the big eland next door and had spent the entire day crouching close by, never taking his eyes off the carcass.

When we became still, two of the cubs came out of their hiding and went over to mom again. After half an hour there seemed to be no sight of the 3^rd cub, as we looked into every bush through binoculars. I was just wondering how the 3^rd cub could disappear when Madonna all of sudden stood up and started walking to the closed gate that leads to the 7Ha camp. Seeing that it was closed she went back to her shade under the tree but repeated this 3 or 4 times. Suddenly I realized the increasingly loud chirping sound coming from TigerWoods’ camp was not a bird, but a tiger cub! I looked in that direction and saw the little head of the 3^rd cub behind the long grass.  That explained his magical disappearance but how on earth did it manage to get through to the other side of the fence???

Although TW didn’t seem to be bothered at all either by the cry of this little visitor or its intrusion, we quickly managed to guide him into the next adjacent camp-the quarantine camp. Madonna went inside the 7ha asa the gate was opened for her and she soon was reunited with her treasured baby, showering each other with head rubs and tender whines. Having been absent from this camp for several years, she clearly enjoyed its dense trees, long grasses and fresh smells, sniffing and jumping between tree trunks with the little cub trailing behind. 

I searched for potential holes in the fence and realized that the cub had crawled through from under the iron mesh, where it needed stones to hold it down onto the ground. We fixed it there and then.

Seeing mom vanishing out of sight for a while now, the remaining two cubs started calling. We left them to sort out their plan as to where to spend the day, certain that they would return to their food in the mini-camp.

Upon arriving in the tiger rewilding center in the afternoon, I could hear the loud cry of a cub from even far away. I walked around the camp to investigate, not wanting to scare them with the sound of the vehicle. What I saw was hilarious. Madonna and two cubs were crouched on the 7Ha side of the open gate, where the 3^rd cub was screaming at its heart content on the other side of the open gate.  After a while Madonna got up and walking through the gate to the 3^rd cub, rubbing heads and chuffing at him, intending to guide the cub into the natural 7Ha camp. She looked behind her once she crossed back into 7Ha only to see her 3^rd cub refusing to cross the threshold, for one reason or another. I believe this was the cub that crawled through the fence as the cub kept running over to that spot and looking under it.

The other two cubs were frolicking the grass and got further and further away which prompted Madonna to follow them. Seeing mom going nearly out of sight the 3^rd cub started his hysteric cry again, sounding so much like the cry of a human baby.

Poor Madonna was stopped in her tracks and turned back to her 3^rd cub, again trying to coax him into following her into the 7Ha camp, but to no avail. In the end, she called her two other cubs back and lied down again in the same spot on the side of 7Ha facing the cub on the other side of the gate. The four just watched one another. Again, I left them to sort out their arrangement for the night, confident they would make a final decision.

Clearly we had our job marked out for us for next weeks!

Jan 27 2012

Cat God at Valley of the Queens

Sunset Philae Temple

Nubian kid

Little Crocodile

It was an amazing trip to Luxor/Aswan. All that incredible and mysterious temples, tombs and giant statues..

But the one thing that ate my heart was a little cat at the Valley of the Queens.

He looked like my South African wild cat Sisi, and was strolling across the valley floor, apparently trailing a tomb guard, when I stopped him to stroke him. He rubbed himself against my leg, very content. When I had to leave, I called out to him, "Come, show me around". He looked at me, then looked back at his "master" who was looking at him with a silent command, uncertain who to follow. The cat looked visibly  tortured.."Should I follow this mad Chinese woman who showered me with attention? Or should I follow my servant who keeps me company all the time?" After some hard soul searching, In the end he choose to follow his "master".

Sadly I left my camera in the car. The cat's tortured look haunted me for the rest of the day and the thought of having no photo of him tortured me so much that I decided to go back to Valley of the Queens next morning to get a photo, before my flight out of Egypt.

The cat was of course not there. The tomb guards and police were puzzled about my visit but when they understood the purpose of my visit, they tried to search for the cat for me. The name of the  guard that the cat was following was Ibrahim. He told me in broken English that the cat was there in the morning and may have gone up the hills to eat something or gone sleeping somewhere. I looked up-vultures were hovering around near the top of those hills..

"Yesterday was cat but no camera. Today was camera but no cat". Ibrahim summarized my predicament with the feline race.

Cat Server Ibrahim Valley of Queens 

 I had to catch my plight out of Egypt so I appealed to Ibrahim to take a photo of the cat with his phone camera and emailed it to me. He must have taken sympathy for me and readily agreed. I felt imposing on him and offered him a small baksheesh, which is expected and asked for by almost everyone that a foreign tourist encounters. But to my complete surprise, he tried to decline it and I could even detect some embarrassment on his face.

Maybe, the cat chose Ibrahim for a reason..

P.S. Oberoi Towel Art: