Jordan-Maynard.org

Amirah R.I.P.

We were thrilled to see Amirah the Amur Leopard cub at Marwell zoo on the 26th March. Tom sent me this photograph of her. Two days later she was dead, killed by her father after squeezing through the rock barrier between their pens.

I hope Marwell are doing some hard thinking. In a rather Orwellian way, all mention of Amirah has vanished from their site. But she did exist, and Mike McCombie's lovely set of photos, taken on the same day we visited, remains as a tribute.

The same week saw the deaths of Terri Schiavo, who spent fifteen years in a persistent vegetative state, and Pope John Paul II, who wanted her to remain in it.