The See-Through Leopard

by Sibel Hodge

  Zach gave Dad a sheepish look.

  ‘What’s happened?’ I asked, flapping my hand to get them to hurry up and tell me.

  Dad held a copy of Rebecca’s article that he’d printed from their webpage in his hand.

  I felt the blood rising to the surface. ‘Just tell me!’

  Dad said, ‘The article is pro-hunting, and she’s called you an anti-gun fascist!’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I snatched it out of his hands and started reading…

  Animal Rights Advocate is an Anti-Gun Fascist!

  Once again, the question of hunting rears its head, and here’s a fact that the animal rights crowd don’t like admitting: We wouldn’t have nearly as much publicly owned land to enjoy our outdoor life of walking, biking, horse-riding, etc if it weren’t for hunters spending thousands of dollars on license fees, permits, and equipment.

  Wild animals, and especially endangered or threatened species, are much better off by having thousands of miles of patrolled habitat that these dollars are paying for than the propaganda and half-truths that the animal rights groups dish out. If hunting were banned, where would the money for preservation actually come from to increase habitat for game species? And what about the rights of the Africans to earn their living? That would all disappear overnight. It seems to me that rich white hypocrisy is in play here, allowing people to dote on animals while leaving the poor villagers without a livelihood. Whether you want to admit it or not, the huge amount of sportsmen’s money pumped into hunting has contributed to the re-establishment of certain species and to wildlife conservation, and provides much-needed economy for the local villagers. Who else could pay for the upkeep of these public lands? The animal rights activists? I think not.

  Jazz Hooper is an animal rights advocate who thinks differently. I met her in Kenya recently after hearing how she’d found a leopard cub whose mother, she claimed, had been shot by hunters, and she’s rearing it to be released back into the Kilingi Game Reserve. If Jazz had her way, everyone in Africa, and especially uneducated people, should be stripped of their right to bear arms, making her nothing but an anti-gun fascist. This…

  I couldn’t read the rest of the article. I looked up at them both with horror. ‘But that’s not what I said! She’s completely twisted everything.’ I wracked my brains, trying to remember exactly what I had said.

  ‘We didn’t think you would,’ Zach said, shaking his head.

  ‘But I didn’t even mention hunting. I was talking poaching and the illegal wildlife trade,’ I said.

  ‘She obviously hasn’t done any research into hunting, either,’ Zach said. ‘If she had, she’d mention the canned lion hunts, where they’re bred in captivity and drugged before being released so some rich guy with a gun can inflate his ego by shooting it and taking home a trophy to stuff. Or about the pseudo rhino hunts, where the Vietnamese can get a permit to shoot a rhino on a game farm and then export the horn as a so-called “trophy”, but really it’s destined to be ground up into Eastern medicine. Rhino are so shortsighted that if you’re downwind of them, they wouldn’t even know you were there. These animals are easy to kill. How is shooting an animal that has no chance against a gun a “sport”?’ He blew out an angry breath. ‘There’s really no difference between hunting and poaching; they’re both murder. It’s just that hunting is a legalised version.’

  ‘She’s talking about the animal rights groups, but what animal rights? They don’t have any!’ Dad spat. ‘It’s a totally unprofessional article and no doubt she’s been paid off by the powerful pro-hunting, pro-gun lobbyists.’

  ‘I remember saying that people needed to be educated about poaching. And then…’ I paced up and down, thinking. ‘She asked me something at the end about what should happen to the poachers and I said maybe they should have a taste of their own medicine. And I told her about animals having their horns mutilated when they were still alive.’ I threw my hands up in the air.

  ‘Bloody newspapers,’ Dad tutted.

  I looked down and started reading again, my eyes frantically scanning the page. ‘What can we do?’ I asked urgently. ‘It looks terrible. And it’s completely biased.’

  Zach and Dad exchanged a worried glance.

  ‘What?’ I questioned them.

  ‘Since the name of the reserve is mentioned in the article, we’ve already had hundreds of emails complaining about your alleged remarks. And the pro-hunting, pro-gun groups are up in arms over it. We’ve even had some threats,’ Zach said.

  I collapsed onto the leather sofa in the centre of reception. ‘But I didn’t say it like that!’ I wailed. ‘I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.’

  ‘We can try and get them to print a retraction,’ Zach suggested to Dad.

  ‘Yes, but that will just be a small statement with tiny lettering in an obscure part of the paper that no one actually sees.’ Dad sighed.

  Zach ran a hand over his cropped hair. ‘It’s already doing the rounds on social media. It’s gone viral. Everyone’s talking about it.’

  I flopped my head forward and tugged at my hair. ‘I thought I was trying to do something to help, and now I’ve ruined everything, as usual.’

  ‘It will blow over eventually,’ Zach said. ‘They’ll find some other poor person to misquote and move onto that. Today’s news is tomorrow’s chip wrappers.’

  ‘But what about in the meantime?’ I asked from behind my hair. ‘I never meant to do anything to jeopardise the reserve or Asha.’

  Dad sat down next to me and put his arm round my shoulder, pulling me towards him. ‘We know that, sweetheart. It’s not your fault.’

  ‘And anyway, poachers do deserve to have a taste of their own medicine,’ Zach said. ‘Except that wouldn’t really stop anything. There are plenty of people in Africa living in poverty who would do anything for the amount of money they’re being offered by these big crime syndicates to poach. The only way to stop it is to get the people at the top and eliminate the market for it.’

  ‘I bet that woman is walking around in a leopard skin coat and mink slippers, but I doubt she’s looked at one skinned with its paws and head cut off.’ Dad sat down on the other side of me. ‘People don’t realise what it’s like out here. We’re the only things that stand between the poachers and those animals. If we don’t try and ensure conservation, what’s going to happen to them?’

  I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn’t working.

  Dad stood up. ‘I’d better go and break the news to Jenna and Richard.’

  As I heard his footsteps disappear into the distance, Zach grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. ‘Come on. I want to show you something.’ He dragged me out the door.

  ‘Where are we going?’ All I wanted was to be left alone to wallow in self-pity. I’d stuffed everything up without even trying. I wasn’t just an ugly freak. I was now an ugly idiot.

  He pulled me along the track that led to our quarters and marched me up to Asha’s enclosure. On seeing us, she trotted up to the bars and pushed her nose through the gap, excited to see me.

  ‘What are we doing here?’ I moaned.

  ‘Look at her.’

  I stroked under her chin as she mewed in her leopard chat appreciation.

  ‘There’s one thing that always amazes me about animals,’ he said. ‘They never show unkindness. They show a lot of other human traits like love and kindness, compassion, fear, anger, and yes, there are animals that kill each other. Either they hunt to feed or they defend their young to the death, but they never do anything without a good reason. When I was out in the reserve once I witnessed something amazing. We were watching Big Mama’s herd grazing. A lone male elephant arrived that had its trunk caught in a poacher’s wire noose-snare and couldn’t use it to pick up food. It walked up to Big Mama and showed her its trunk. Knowing the injured elephant needed help, Big Mama uprooted a small acacia tree and picked off some leaves, putting them straight into the injured one’s mouth.’ He glanced at me. ‘The
re are many stories of disabled animals instinctively being fed and cared for and helped out by their family. Blind animals being protected by their herd. Predators befriending prey animals and actually hanging out with them. Swimmers being saved by dolphins. Some of them could teach humans a thing or two about compassion and kindness, and some of them make better parents than some humans. We could learn a lot from them because I think deliberate cruelty is only found in the human race.’ He paused. ‘That woman had her own agenda when she was writing that story, and it was never about Asha. She just wanted to sensationalise something so she could sell more papers.’ He pointed at Asha. ‘She’s the reason we’re doing this, and don’t ever let anything make you forget that.’

  Chapter 15

  I woke up early, as usual, and listened to the sounds of the African plains coming to life. Birds sang their early morning chorus, and in the distance I could hear elephants trumpeting in the new day.

  Our first Christmas Day in Kenya. Another Christmas without Mum.

  I stared at her photo, thinking about how she’d always left a stocking outside my door with little knick-knacky presents in it. Hair clips, nuts, socks, a book, a satsuma. I still thought about her every day and talked to her constantly in my head. I wondered what she’d think of me now. I’d thought I was doing something worthwhile with Asha, but I still had the ability to ruin everything and mess up people’s lives. They weren’t little things, either; inconsequential mistakes that didn’t hurt anyone. When I stuffed up, I did it in style. Mum’s death just proved that, and now people cancelling their holidays with the reserve after that horrible story had run just confirmed it.

  I rolled onto my side and stared through the window, not wanting to get out of bed. Maybe I could just stay here all day with the covers pulled over my head. Would anyone even notice? It wasn’t like I was much good for anything, was I?

  Dad knocked on my door a while later. ‘Happy Christmas, sweetheart. I’ve brought you some tea.’ He opened the door, his eyebrows pinching together when he saw my face. Putting the mug down on the bedside table, he sat on the bed next to me. ‘Come on, get up. Asha needs feeding.’

  ‘I still miss her,’ I said, staring at the steam coming off the mug.

  He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. ‘Me, too. Every day. But it’s important to think about all the time we did have together. Some people don’t even get that. Just because she’s not here anymore, doesn’t mean she’s not with you. She’s in our hearts, and nothing and no one can change that. She’d be really proud of you, you know.’

  I snorted. ‘How do you work that out?’

  ‘Since we got here, I’ve seen you blossoming for the first time since the accident. Whether you believe it or not, I can tell you that you’ve grown into a strong young lady.’

  I gave him a disbelieving look.

  ‘You’ve had a rough time of it. We both have. There will always be setbacks and knocks in life, you can’t control that, and you can’t be responsible for everything that happens. I don’t know many sixteen-year-olds who are doing what you’re doing with such passion.’ He smiled softly and stood up. ‘Yes, it’s Christmas Day, and it’s not the same without your mum, but Asha still needs feeding and walking, I’ve still got animals to care for, and you still have to get out of bed. Life has to go on.’

  Groaning, I sat up and drank my tea as Dad left me to get dressed.

  When I went outside to Asha’s enclosure, she was hiding in one of the thickets, and I knew she was about to ambush me, which was something she’d started doing on a regular basis.

  I opened the door and stepped inside, pretending I hadn’t seen her bum and tail sticking out of the other side of the bush as I walked slowly past. I knew when she was about to pounce because her tail always twitched slightly.

  I could feel her eyes on me and watched her rear end closely. When her tail twitched, I jumped out of reach, laughing.

  She didn’t let me get one over on her, though, deciding to launch herself onto me with excitement. She didn’t know her own strength anymore and knocked me to the ground. Within seconds we were rolling about, playing, and I felt my mood lift slightly. Her trusting nature and energetic personality had the ability to make everything seem brighter. Maybe Dad was right. Maybe Mum would’ve been proud of me.

  I grabbed her tail and gave it a gentle tug, quickly moving my hand away before she could swat me with her paw. It kept her entertained for hours, and eventually, when we were both worn out, I said, ‘I bet you want your breakfast, don’t you?’ I sat up, covered in dust, and hugged her towards me. She licked my arm in reply.

  Zach walked up to the enclosure with a smile on his face. ‘Happy Christmas.’

  I mustered up a feeble smile. ‘Happy Christmas.’

  ‘And how are you two girls doing?’

  ‘OK, I suppose.’

  ‘I thought we could give Asha a Christmas present,’ he said, holding up a small gazelle carcass.

  I pulled a face at it. I still hated giving her carcasses.

  ‘You’re so lazy that you don’t run fast enough to give her any challenge to catch her dinner, so we need to attach it to the Land Rover and get her to chase it.’ He grinned.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. ‘I’m not lazy!’

  ‘Well, prove it, then. Stop playing around and let’s do some real work with her.’

  I stood up, dusted myself off, and then slipped out of the door before Asha could follow me. If she saw the carcass she’d be scoffing it down before we had the chance to teach her anything.

  While Zach lifted the dead animal onto a tarpaulin on the back of the Land Rover, I went inside to fetch some drinks and put them in a cool box. When the carcass was carefully wrapped up, I let Asha out and got into the passenger seat. She jumped in on top of me, but she was now so big that I ended up squirming out of the way and was perched on a tiny edge of it while she had the rest, sitting up like a queen of the manor, watching the world pass by with interest.

  We drove for half an hour, and as we pulled round a corner of thick bush a huge bull elephant stood in the middle of the track, his looming body blocking the way.

  Zach skidded to a halt.

  The elephant stared at us menacingly, flapping his ears and swinging his trunk.

  I felt Asha’s muscles tense in the seat next to me.

  ‘Shit.’ Zach put the Land Rover in reverse. ‘That’s Mr Grumpy and he’s in musth, which means he’s looking to mate. They’ve got so much testosterone flying through their body, they’re unpredictable and dangerous. They’ve only got one thing on their minds, and that’s the females.’ He slowly eased the Land Rover backwards. ‘He’s pretty grumpy at the best of times, which is why we called him that, but he’ll be even worse now. I don’t want to move too suddenly, it might set him off.’

  I kept my eyes on the bull as the Land Rover rolled back. Mr Grumpy lowered his head, lifted up a front leg, and barrelled forwards.

  My stomach rose to my throat. ‘He’s charging us!’

  Zach pushed the accelerator harder and the Land Rover lurched backwards.

  Mr Grumpy’s huge, hulking body stopped suddenly and he raised his trunk in the air with an angry trumpeting sound.

  ‘It’s a mock charge.’ Zach swung the Land Rover around.’ He just wants us out of his way so he can find the females.’

  Mr Grumpy swayed backwards, as if giving himself enough room to charge forward again.

  ‘Well get out of the way, then!’ I cried.

  ‘I’m trying!’ Zach floored the Land Rover in the direction we’d just come, and I stared at Mr Grumpy over my shoulder.

  My hand flew to my chest. ‘He’s stopped, thank God. He’s just watching us now.’

  Zach shook his head. ‘If he’d really wanted to charge us, we’d just be like a little Tonka Toy in this thing.’ He exhaled a huge breath of relief.

  ‘That was really close!’

  ‘You could’ve fired a warning shot in the air as I was driving,’
Zach said.

  ‘Well, why didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘I’m not always going to be around to tell you everything. Sometimes out here you’re going to have to learn to use your initiative. Anyway, I was too busy driving.’ He grinned as the relief hit us.

  ‘I think it’s kind of romantic that he’s prepared to do anything to get a girlfriend,’ I said.

  ‘Yeah, as long as he doesn’t kill us in the process.’ Zach raised an eyebrow and drove on until we headed down a dirt track in between long grasses and had to stop to let a large African rock python slither across the path, going leisurely about its day. Out of the long grasses a cheetah poked its head out and looked at us.

  ‘That’s Kimani,’ Zach said quietly. ‘She was found by some farmers as an orphan and re-wilded by the Cheetah Conservation Organization and released here a couple of years ago. She loves coming up to the Land Rovers, and she’s a real favourite with the guests.’

  We watched as she began to approach the Land Rover then stopped when she spotted Asha.

  Asha watched her warily, eyes alert, fidgeting in the seat and trying to work out whether to be scared, jump out and play, or go on the defensive.

  ‘It’s OK, Asha.’ I held her collar firmly as she struggled to clamber over me and escape through the open window.

  Kimani stared warily at Asha, her body frozen.

  ‘Amazing, isn’t she?’ Zach nodded at Kimani. ‘If Asha wasn’t here, she’d be rubbing herself against the Land Rover, and sometimes she even jumps up on the bonnet.’

  Asha made a low sound in her throat, struggling to get away from my tight grip on her collar.

  Kimani bolted back into the grass.

  ‘That will be you one day, Asha.’ I kissed the top of her head. ‘Living out here all the time, patrolling your kingdom.’

  We eventually parked at a secluded spot and Zach jumped out and tied the gazelle to the tow bar with a thick piece of rope. ‘OK, let her out now,’ he called. ‘Make sure she sees the meat and then hop back in and I’ll take off.’