Slaughter Day

*WARNING*

This post comes with a warning. I won't make it too gory but I'm going to tell you a bit about my day. So if you're a bit squeamish or don't really want to know about the topic this might be a post to miss. Room 1 may want to skip this one!

This aspect of the project was what I was most nervous about coming in. I've always said I'd be a hopeless farmer as I'd name all the animals and not want to part with them. I'm also not fond of butcher shops. So I felt today might be a major challenge!

The cheetahs are fed horse and donkey as this most closely resembles their natural diet. Beef is too fatty for them and chicken doesn't have enough nutrients. The horses are sourced from various places and it is always animals that cannot be used anymore - perhaps old or injured. They are brought to the centre already dead but then the whole process is carried out here. Thankfully the volunteers don't have to be involved until it is at the 'meat' stage - though I had to keep my gaze averted a lot of the time as they were still going on the second horse outside once I started working. 

Overall it was far better than I expected. I think it helped that I've already had 2 weeks here - I've already handled the meat, handled dead baby chicks for the servals, handled the big bones and so forth, so it was a bit like a gradual introduction. Essentially it was just a LOT of meat. Two horses were done today and that will feed the cheetahs and Pablo for about 2 weeks. 

My job for most of the morning was cutting small chunks of meat. Before Penny came here she was raised on chunks rather than ground meat so they have kept her diet that way ever since. I worked with Annelise - she lives locally and knows Estelle and is doing some work here - who thankfully had an excellent technique for getting the huge hunks of meat we were given into smaller strips. I then cut them into chunks from there. Turns out the main discomfort of the day was not the confronting nature of the job, but a very sore hand! If you've ever cut meat for an hour and a half straight you'll know what I mean! I have two massive blisters and my hand took a while to uncramp. 

When we were done there we helped weigh the ground meat and put it into bags. It is all portioned out and frozen in separate bags so just the right amount is defrosted every morning. Jade, Shaka and Pablo have their own bags (plus Penny with her chunks) and then a large bag is made for the other cheetahs and we weigh that into their portions daily. 

The smell got to me once or twice and a couple of times I thought too much about what I was actually doing. But on the whole I coped much better than I thought I might - I just switched off and went into autopilot and was more worried about how sore my finger was!! It is a bit of a confronting experience but an essential part of working with cheetahs or other animals, and it does give you a much fuller understanding of the whole process and what is required to care for these creatures. 

Though Penny better be super grateful for those hand cut chunks!