Sierra loved Rupa dearly, but really disliked humans. Carolyne Clendenin
and I used to sit with Rupa and Sierra quite a bit. I used to read to
them but found that it seemed to stress Sierra out if I carried anything in
my hands. So, I would sit on the ground and just talk nonsense to both
of them. For a long time, Sierra would growl at me. But, he got to the
point where he would just sit and look at me, not growling but still not trusting. Rupa
would come over to the side of the enclosure and rub on the fence and talk
to us and then just lay down to listen to us talking. Sierra never did
learn to trust any of us, but I felt honored when he would just sit and listen
without growling. After we lost Sierra, Rupa was still her sweet self,
I remember going into her enclosure to pull the burr plants with Anissa and
Carolyne and she came over to us and Anissa started saying “Oh no, here
she comes, watch out.” She just came near us, walked around us
and went and laid back down, talking the whole time. I know that Carolyne
and I really miss the conversations with Rupa and her voice calling to us when
we were near. She truly was the sweetest girl”….Becky, Senior
Volunteer Keeper
From Sierra's Bio Page
Male Caracal
Date of Birth: 1990
Sierra came to Big Cat Rescue on 5/1/93 from an Alabama Research Center. It is disturbing to contemplate what type of research would possibly be needed of African cats in the U.S. and why it made Sierra so fearful of people. He came with a general dislike for humans, but after two years he mellowed a lot. He will even come take food from our hands (glove and all). Sierra died on 4/22/04 from old age in his sleep next to his mate, Rupa.