Alfiedog
September 27th, 2004, 01:38 PM
I'm not sure where to put this . . .I had to delete some paragraphs so it would fit but full story can be found:
http://www.eatveg.com/vegetarianlioness.htm
(see site for photos)
Vegetarian Lioness
by James A. Peden
"At four years old, the mature African lioness weighed 352 pounds.
Her body stretched 10 feet 4 inches long and could run 40 miles per
hour. Her skull, highly adapted to killing and eating prey,
possessed short powerful jaws. Normally, African lions eat gnus,
zebras, gazelles, impalas, and giraffes. This particular big cat, in
her prime and perfect health, chose a more gentle way of life,
vegetarian!
A Violent Birth
Georges and Margaret Westbeau, standing outside the thick steel bars
of the cage, watched nervously. Inside, a vicious, raging beast
baring razor claws and glistening fangs, roared. Flinging herself at
the couple, who watched from barely three feet away, her suffering
amber eyes defied their presence.
Always, in the past, this lioness destroyed her offspring as soon as
they were born. Four times in the last seven years, her powerful
jaws had crushed her newborn cubs, furiously throwing them against
her cage's bars where they tumbled, lifeless.
Denying the normal instincts of motherhood, what possessed this
lioness? Her life mocked its former freedom. She lived a caged
animal, taken from the wild and tortured by those who captured her.
Did she feel that by destroying her cubs they would be spared the
humiliation that she endured?
Suddenly, the newborn cub came flying towards the people anxiously
watching. Georges quickly grabbed the cub through the bars before it
could be killed. Its right front leg dangled helplessly from its
mother's brutal jaws. In the face of such fury the only thing the
human could say was, 'You poor little tike'.
The Westbeaus took the three-pound 'Little Tyke' to their Hidden
Valley Ranch near Seattle and there it joined the menagerie of other
animals including horses, cattle, and chickens. Curious peacocks
lined the housetop, kittens peered through a picket fence, and two
terriers danced with joy for the new addition to the household.
Drinking bottles of warm milk, Little Tyke began the long road to
recovery.
Mysterious reaction
With the advice of experts the Westbeaus began weaning Little Tyke
onto solid food at three months. Leaving only a favorite doll, they
removed most of her rubber toys, replacing them with bones from
freshly slaughtered beef. They carried the small cub to the bones.
Unexpectedly, she violently threw up!
Experts told them in no uncertain terms that lions couldn't live
without meat. In the wild, lions ate only flesh - eleven pounds a
day for an adult female. Alarmed at Little Tyke's strange behavior,
they wondered at how they could introduce meat into her diet? In the
meantime, they continued feeding Little Tyke baby cereal mixed with
milk.
A well meaning friend suggested mixing beef blood with milk, in
increasing proportions. Given milk containing ten drops of blood,
Little Tyke would have nothing to do with it. They mixed in five
drops of blood, and hid that bottle. As she sucked on the plain milk
they quickly switched bottles. Again she refused it. In desperation
they added *one* drop of blood to a full bottle of milk, but Little
Tyke refused this bottle as well, and they could only stare in
amazement.
Another friend suggested putting plain milk in one hand, and milk
mixed with hamburger in the palm of the other hand. Little Tyke
readily licked the milk from one hand, but when Georges changed
hands, she immediately turned away. Sensing her distress, Georges
wiped his hands on a nearby towel and picked her up. Hissing in fear
and cringing away, she looked sick from the danger-smell of meat on
his hand. She only settled down when given a fresh bottle of milk
held in washed hands.
The answer
The caretakers of this gentle animal sought out animal experts,
always asking them about diet. Finally, one young visitor set their
mind at ease. With serious eyes he turned to them and asked, 'Don't
you read your Bible? Read Genisis 1:30, and you will get your
answer.' At his first opportunity Georges read in astonishment, 'And
to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I
have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.' At that point,
after four years, the Westbeaus finally stopped worrying.
Little Tyke's meals
A typical meal consisted of various grains, chosen for their
protein, calcium, fats, and roughage. Margaret always cooked a few
days' supply ahead of time. At feeding time, a double handful of the
cooked grains along with one-half gallon of milk with two eggs,
supplied Little Tyke a delicious meal. She had one condition before
eating. Her favorite rubber doll had to be right next to her!
For teeth and gums, the Westbeaus supplied rubber boots, since she
refused bones. They attracted her to the boots by sprinkling them
with perfume. One boot lasted almost a month.
Little Tyke had many close animal friends. Her favorites were Pinky
(a kitten), Imp (another kitten), Becky (a lamb) and Baby (a fawn).
Her favorite and closest friend, however, was Becky, who preferred
Little Tyke's company to any of the other animals.
National publicity
You Asked For It, the popular television show hosted by Art Baker,
once featured Little Tyke. The producers wanted a scene with
chickens, which didn't bother Georges since Little Tyke roamed
easily among chickens at Hidden Valley Ranch. When the film crew
brought the chickens in, they turned out to be four little day-old
chicks!
Slurp of the tongue
Little Tyke's only previous experience with new chicks had been with
a hen and her chicks who had wandered onto the lawns around their
home on the ranch. Georges thought nothing of it until he saw Little
Tyke acting peculiarly, slinking into the house, and looking guilty
with lips tightly closed over obviously open jaws. He called 'Tyke!
What have you got?' Instantly her mouth opened and a little chick
popped out, unharmed. Flapping it's little down-covered wings, it
almost flew back to its upset mother. Apparently Little Tyke had
affectionately licked the tiny chick, as she was prone to do when,
with one huge slurp of the tongue, the little chick had popped into
her mouth, and she hadn't known how to fondle it further!
With the amazed camera crew filming, Little Tyke strode over to the
chicks, hesitated long enough to lick the chicks *carefully* and
*gently* with the very *tip* of her tongue, and moved away with a
yawn. A moment later she came back to lie down among the chicks.
They immediately made their way into the long silky hair at the base
of her great neck where they peered out from the shelter of their
great protector. Another scene saw a new kitten, after an
introduction, walk over to Little Tyke's huge foreleg and sit down.
Little Tyke crooked one paw around the tiny creature and cuddled it
closer.
In front of cameras, Art Baker picked up the Bible and read: 'The
wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw
like the bullock.' Mail poured into the producers, making this
episode one of the most popular in the show's history.
Little Tyke's death
Unfortunately, while spending three weeks in Hollywood for the show,
Little Tyke contracted virus pneumonia, a disease that took her life
a few weeks later. The sudden change in climate may have been a
contributing factor. She succumbed quietly in her sleep, retiring
early after watching television.
Inspiring to this day
Her life is over, but her teachings live on. Of the many lessons she
taught, not the least is that love removes fear and savagery. Little
Tyke reflected the love and care shown to her after the first few
moments of her precarious birth.
Thousands saw photographs of her lying with her lamb friend, Becky,
inspiring many to see the world a fresh way: two such diverse
natures enjoying each other's love! One eminent attorney kept a huge
enlargement of this photograph in his office, and pointed to it as
he counciled couples on the verge of divorce.
Scientific dilemma
Science is at a loss when it comes to Little Tyke. Felines are the
strictest of carnivores. Without flesh she should have developed
blindness, as well as dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a degenerative
disease that turns heart muscles flabby and limits their ability to
pump blood. This is because her diet didn't contain an adequate
source of the amino acid, taurine.
Little known in the 1950's, subsequent research at UC Davis in 1976
proved that taurine is an essential nutrient for felines, the lack
of which would cause degeneration of the retina. Later research
implicated inadequate taurine levels in dilated cardiomyopathy as
well. For cats with DCM, if the disease has not progressed too far,
administering taurine causes an almost miraculous recovery.
Formerly, cats lived only a few days to weeks after diagnose.
Taurine is non-existent in natural non-animal sources. It is present
in minute amounts in milk and eggs. Little Tyke could have gotten
her taurine requirement from milk, if she drank 500 gallons per day,
or from eggs, if she ate more than 4000 per day. How *did* Little
Tyke get taurine?
Perhaps even more important, why did Little Tyke disown her species'
instincts? Little Tyke is a curiosity to the public, aberation to
zoologists, anomaly to scientists, and an inspiration to idealists."
There's a picture in the book of Little Tyke turning away her head
from meat (and wincing). There's also a book about Little Tyke,
appropriately titled "Little Tyke" by Georges Westbeau.
http://www.eatveg.com/vegetarianlioness.htm
(see site for photos)
Vegetarian Lioness
by James A. Peden
"At four years old, the mature African lioness weighed 352 pounds.
Her body stretched 10 feet 4 inches long and could run 40 miles per
hour. Her skull, highly adapted to killing and eating prey,
possessed short powerful jaws. Normally, African lions eat gnus,
zebras, gazelles, impalas, and giraffes. This particular big cat, in
her prime and perfect health, chose a more gentle way of life,
vegetarian!
A Violent Birth
Georges and Margaret Westbeau, standing outside the thick steel bars
of the cage, watched nervously. Inside, a vicious, raging beast
baring razor claws and glistening fangs, roared. Flinging herself at
the couple, who watched from barely three feet away, her suffering
amber eyes defied their presence.
Always, in the past, this lioness destroyed her offspring as soon as
they were born. Four times in the last seven years, her powerful
jaws had crushed her newborn cubs, furiously throwing them against
her cage's bars where they tumbled, lifeless.
Denying the normal instincts of motherhood, what possessed this
lioness? Her life mocked its former freedom. She lived a caged
animal, taken from the wild and tortured by those who captured her.
Did she feel that by destroying her cubs they would be spared the
humiliation that she endured?
Suddenly, the newborn cub came flying towards the people anxiously
watching. Georges quickly grabbed the cub through the bars before it
could be killed. Its right front leg dangled helplessly from its
mother's brutal jaws. In the face of such fury the only thing the
human could say was, 'You poor little tike'.
The Westbeaus took the three-pound 'Little Tyke' to their Hidden
Valley Ranch near Seattle and there it joined the menagerie of other
animals including horses, cattle, and chickens. Curious peacocks
lined the housetop, kittens peered through a picket fence, and two
terriers danced with joy for the new addition to the household.
Drinking bottles of warm milk, Little Tyke began the long road to
recovery.
Mysterious reaction
With the advice of experts the Westbeaus began weaning Little Tyke
onto solid food at three months. Leaving only a favorite doll, they
removed most of her rubber toys, replacing them with bones from
freshly slaughtered beef. They carried the small cub to the bones.
Unexpectedly, she violently threw up!
Experts told them in no uncertain terms that lions couldn't live
without meat. In the wild, lions ate only flesh - eleven pounds a
day for an adult female. Alarmed at Little Tyke's strange behavior,
they wondered at how they could introduce meat into her diet? In the
meantime, they continued feeding Little Tyke baby cereal mixed with
milk.
A well meaning friend suggested mixing beef blood with milk, in
increasing proportions. Given milk containing ten drops of blood,
Little Tyke would have nothing to do with it. They mixed in five
drops of blood, and hid that bottle. As she sucked on the plain milk
they quickly switched bottles. Again she refused it. In desperation
they added *one* drop of blood to a full bottle of milk, but Little
Tyke refused this bottle as well, and they could only stare in
amazement.
Another friend suggested putting plain milk in one hand, and milk
mixed with hamburger in the palm of the other hand. Little Tyke
readily licked the milk from one hand, but when Georges changed
hands, she immediately turned away. Sensing her distress, Georges
wiped his hands on a nearby towel and picked her up. Hissing in fear
and cringing away, she looked sick from the danger-smell of meat on
his hand. She only settled down when given a fresh bottle of milk
held in washed hands.
The answer
The caretakers of this gentle animal sought out animal experts,
always asking them about diet. Finally, one young visitor set their
mind at ease. With serious eyes he turned to them and asked, 'Don't
you read your Bible? Read Genisis 1:30, and you will get your
answer.' At his first opportunity Georges read in astonishment, 'And
to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I
have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.' At that point,
after four years, the Westbeaus finally stopped worrying.
Little Tyke's meals
A typical meal consisted of various grains, chosen for their
protein, calcium, fats, and roughage. Margaret always cooked a few
days' supply ahead of time. At feeding time, a double handful of the
cooked grains along with one-half gallon of milk with two eggs,
supplied Little Tyke a delicious meal. She had one condition before
eating. Her favorite rubber doll had to be right next to her!
For teeth and gums, the Westbeaus supplied rubber boots, since she
refused bones. They attracted her to the boots by sprinkling them
with perfume. One boot lasted almost a month.
Little Tyke had many close animal friends. Her favorites were Pinky
(a kitten), Imp (another kitten), Becky (a lamb) and Baby (a fawn).
Her favorite and closest friend, however, was Becky, who preferred
Little Tyke's company to any of the other animals.
National publicity
You Asked For It, the popular television show hosted by Art Baker,
once featured Little Tyke. The producers wanted a scene with
chickens, which didn't bother Georges since Little Tyke roamed
easily among chickens at Hidden Valley Ranch. When the film crew
brought the chickens in, they turned out to be four little day-old
chicks!
Slurp of the tongue
Little Tyke's only previous experience with new chicks had been with
a hen and her chicks who had wandered onto the lawns around their
home on the ranch. Georges thought nothing of it until he saw Little
Tyke acting peculiarly, slinking into the house, and looking guilty
with lips tightly closed over obviously open jaws. He called 'Tyke!
What have you got?' Instantly her mouth opened and a little chick
popped out, unharmed. Flapping it's little down-covered wings, it
almost flew back to its upset mother. Apparently Little Tyke had
affectionately licked the tiny chick, as she was prone to do when,
with one huge slurp of the tongue, the little chick had popped into
her mouth, and she hadn't known how to fondle it further!
With the amazed camera crew filming, Little Tyke strode over to the
chicks, hesitated long enough to lick the chicks *carefully* and
*gently* with the very *tip* of her tongue, and moved away with a
yawn. A moment later she came back to lie down among the chicks.
They immediately made their way into the long silky hair at the base
of her great neck where they peered out from the shelter of their
great protector. Another scene saw a new kitten, after an
introduction, walk over to Little Tyke's huge foreleg and sit down.
Little Tyke crooked one paw around the tiny creature and cuddled it
closer.
In front of cameras, Art Baker picked up the Bible and read: 'The
wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw
like the bullock.' Mail poured into the producers, making this
episode one of the most popular in the show's history.
Little Tyke's death
Unfortunately, while spending three weeks in Hollywood for the show,
Little Tyke contracted virus pneumonia, a disease that took her life
a few weeks later. The sudden change in climate may have been a
contributing factor. She succumbed quietly in her sleep, retiring
early after watching television.
Inspiring to this day
Her life is over, but her teachings live on. Of the many lessons she
taught, not the least is that love removes fear and savagery. Little
Tyke reflected the love and care shown to her after the first few
moments of her precarious birth.
Thousands saw photographs of her lying with her lamb friend, Becky,
inspiring many to see the world a fresh way: two such diverse
natures enjoying each other's love! One eminent attorney kept a huge
enlargement of this photograph in his office, and pointed to it as
he counciled couples on the verge of divorce.
Scientific dilemma
Science is at a loss when it comes to Little Tyke. Felines are the
strictest of carnivores. Without flesh she should have developed
blindness, as well as dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a degenerative
disease that turns heart muscles flabby and limits their ability to
pump blood. This is because her diet didn't contain an adequate
source of the amino acid, taurine.
Little known in the 1950's, subsequent research at UC Davis in 1976
proved that taurine is an essential nutrient for felines, the lack
of which would cause degeneration of the retina. Later research
implicated inadequate taurine levels in dilated cardiomyopathy as
well. For cats with DCM, if the disease has not progressed too far,
administering taurine causes an almost miraculous recovery.
Formerly, cats lived only a few days to weeks after diagnose.
Taurine is non-existent in natural non-animal sources. It is present
in minute amounts in milk and eggs. Little Tyke could have gotten
her taurine requirement from milk, if she drank 500 gallons per day,
or from eggs, if she ate more than 4000 per day. How *did* Little
Tyke get taurine?
Perhaps even more important, why did Little Tyke disown her species'
instincts? Little Tyke is a curiosity to the public, aberation to
zoologists, anomaly to scientists, and an inspiration to idealists."
There's a picture in the book of Little Tyke turning away her head
from meat (and wincing). There's also a book about Little Tyke,
appropriately titled "Little Tyke" by Georges Westbeau.