Today’s guest kitty was “behind the scenes” at the Jakarta zoo. A handful of years ago I was privileged to be doing some work with my business partner in Jakarta and our host was a donating member at the zoo. She arranged some time in the rotation area. The zoo was much more advanced than we had expected and most of the animals have time “off display” to reduce stress and are housed in the back for periods. All the animals get rotated through the display areas and the back rest areas over the weeks.
We were fortunate to meet up with a friend of our host and he had retired the year previous after working decades with the zoo. He was now a volunteer who showed up every single day because he knew his kitties loved him and needed him.
When he came within sight sound and smell of this leopard friend the cat immediately starting “chirping” a greeting and was purring loudly by the time he got to the cage. Their sniff greeting of one another was heartwarming – true love.
A friendship kiss at the fence with the kitty sniffing his forehead while kneading with those great claws.
There were three leopards in the back area, all of whom the retired keeper knew well, one of which he called over for petting through the fence opening as she was trustworthy and in his translated words “loved all gentle people” and liked to be petted. The others he told us could be “fractious” and liked their personal space. All three LOVED him, and he made sure they were healthy and happy.
Was incredible to watch them all together.
elainesdailykitty 
That is a beautiful picture. You can just see the bond.
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Thank you. It is one of my favorite photos overall and was lucky as I took very few photos that day behind the scenes spending my time in the moment rather than behind the camera.
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