Sarvey Wildlife Center

The Purrfect Pleasure
by Sandy Dahl

Sasha saying "hello"

The Purrfect Pleasure Be careful! Stay away! She hates women! That was the warning Old Man Al gave me the first time he showed me around the outside area at Sarvey Wildlife. He was pointing to Sasha, our resident cougar. Someone, back in the day, tried to raise her as a pet. They didn't or couldn't handle her and she came to us to live out the rest of her days. My heart would race everytime she looked at me. I always stayed a few feet away from her cage. Her eyes sparkled when our eyes locked and I wondered if she wanted a big juicy bite. Her tail flicked back and forth and she would walk the length of the pen with me when I was trying to go in and clean. My thoughts were how big and powerful she looked and maybe she was walking with me pretending I was prey. Scarey! As the weeks went on, I would shut the cage door on one end and go inside to the end she wasn't in and clean. The whole time I was inside her cage, she would just stand there at the closed door staring. Her eyes were never mean, she just watched me. I saw when I closed the door to keep her in one end, it was hurting her feelings, it seemed that she wanted to be closer. I went walking by her cage one day and she made a funny little quick meow sound, I looked and she was inviting me to come over to her. I went closer and closer, my heart was pounding hard. Then the big girl started rubbing her head on the cage wanting a scratch. She was purring the biggest purr I've ever heard. I watched her go back and forth asking me to give her a good old rub. Do I or don't I? Cats are tricky and I knew this. I was right there now, next to her with only a few inches between us. She didn't turn on me, didn't try and grab me through the cage, she just purred. I reached through and scratched her behind her ear, I was watching and kind of waiting for her to nip at me. Not even close! She pushed into my scratching fingers and wanted more. Now she ran her whole body against my scratching point, loving every bit of it. I had both hands there now rubbing her all over, giving her a good ten finger massage. Be careful, I was. Stay away, I couldn't. She hates women, not me. We were friends now and there was nothing I was going to do but be there for her. She wanted the companionship. A few minutes didn't satisfy her as the weeks went on. She wanted me to sit there with her for awhile. The new routine was a quick hello in the morning, I always had to slip her a little snack, then I'd go do my work. When I was finished, I would go and give her scratching and rubbing time. She loved it. I saw that she didn't want me to go. I squatted outside and loved her, she wanted me to stay so I started sitting down. This tickled her to the fullest degree. Now she would lay down next to me and push her huge body up against mine through the cage and just purr. I didn't have to perform my rubbing skills all the time, she just wanted me to hang out and sit with her. I would talk and she would purr and listen looking in my eyes or sniffing and licking my clothes. She never pinned her ears and hissed at me. I saw her do this to quite a few people so I knew she could have a temper. She started putting her paws under the fence and would just want to kind of hold hands, I would rest my hand on her huge paws and this pleased her. We just sat together. I could see the domestic cat traits in her. If I put a long piece of grass through the cage, she would get it and play as I moved it back and forth. She also got more and more excited like a house cat would and get silly and wild wanting to do the back leg bunny kick and grab with her teeth. This always made me laugh. Summer was here and the front part of her cage was in the sunshine. One day it was hot and I went to sit down at our regular place. Sasha got up and started walking to the back. I just sat there and asked her where she was going. To my surprise she looked back at me and motioned with her head for me to follow her back. She actually jerked her head telling me "come on". I did and she led me to the shadey spot in the back where she layed down and wanted me to sit with her back there where it was cool. That was an amazing moment watching her communicate her desires. She knew what she wanted. The following winter, we had a couple of female black bears come to the center. They needed special attention and I made the mistake of changing my good morning routine. I had always went to Sasha first thing in the morning and said hello. The first couple of weeks the bears were there, I went to their pen first and then to Sasha. Wrong, wrong, wrong and Sasha let me know how disapointed she was with me. She wouldn't come to me the mornings I went to the bears first. I had blocked the back of the bears pen where she was looking through at them, it was making the bears nervous. It hurt Sasha's feelings and she really was jealous. I picked up on this and started going to see her first, she was fine after that. She was number one and I wasn't to forget this. I could now open her cage door and hand her her food. She was always ready to eat and would take her meal happily. We were more than OK with each other, we had a friendship. I would watch one of the guys go in her pen and play with her, she was strong and got excited in a big way. This was something that I wanted to do but I knew better. She would get so wound up and wanted to wrestle, and then she would start jumping and grabbing and playing hard. I longed to give her lovin without the cage between us. Then one morning, I just knew. I opened her door, she came over to me. We had no cage between us and she put her forehead to mine and just stood there for a few seconds purring. I shut the door and we were both happy with that moment. Our time together was limited, she was getting old and had been at the center for a very long time. Winter was here and things felt out of sorts. There was sadness in the air for me at that time in my life. I was there everyday now and had to miss a couple of days because of the flu. It was a Wednesday when I came back. I went to say my good morning to Sasha. My heart was shattered when I saw her laying in the back of her pen on the ground. Her eyes looked to me helplessly. She was leaving us. I told one of the girls to go and get our Clinic Director. We brought blankets out and tried to keep her warm. I layed with her until enough people arrived to bring her inside. All who truely loved her were there by her side sending our energy to her. Old age was taking over, there was nothing we could do but let her go. She roams free now through the eternity of life. She has came to me once in my dreams, it was really good seeing her. I saw her and a bear on either side of me, I thought they were in the cages. After thinking about it, she showed me that she is free and I was the one in the cage. We all miss her and will never forget her. I thank you Sasha for all we've shared.