Leopard Leg

I posted a picture of this young leopard on one of my Facebooks albums recently. It was taken in October 2008. Due to the distance from which I took this picture, it appears as if this leopard was sleeping.

Some months before, my sisters visited the zoo with my young nephew. When they came to this cage, they saw this young leopard hobbling around, as if it had great difficulty moving. The zoo attendant in charge of this leopard's cage told us what happened.

When the forest rangers first found this young leopard, it had one of its legs trapped in a snare. In order to rescue this cub from the snare, they had to amputate the part of the leg that was trapped. I don't know how it was done; there was probably no anaesthetic in the middle of the jungle. If there wasn't, then this poor thing must have screamed in great pain. If we heard that probable scream, it would be something that could haunt us forever.

In any case, while the leopard cub was saved, it has lost a leg, and can never run or jump around like other animals of his kind. So, he just hobbles around in his cage, day after day, being depressed over his misfortune.

When my sister told this to my nephew who was not yet 2 years old, the little boy immediately felt great pity for the leopard. He would always ask my sisters about the "leopard leg" and talk about going to the zoo to see him, as if his presence would comfort the young leopard a little.

From time to time we would ask him about the leopard. A typical conversation might go like this:

"Roy, what do you want to see at the zoo?"
"Leopard leg."
"What happened to the leopard leg?"
"Uncle cut leopard leg."

"Uncle" here does not refer to anybody in particular; it's just his way of naming the person whom he imagined must have amputated the leg. He would sometimes end with "Cilalaka uncle" (his way of saying "celaka", or damned in Malay).

Even a young toddler like my nephew could understand what compassion is and show it to animals. He may not be able to define compassion, but he knows how to show it. I believe children instinctively know what being kind and compassionate means, and adults must provide the opportunities to them to nurture these humanistic qualities.

We adults would do well to learn more about compassion from young children.

http://cosmicdinesh.blogspot.com/