My young alpine buck Hans, lost his family last week to a mountain lion. Marika, Flower and Oreo belonged to my friend Emily who lives higher up the mountain. Marika gave birth to Hans, Oreo and two other boys last April (her first birth experience). She had enough milk for all four kids but only wanted to nurse two of them. Oreo and Hans became bottle babies. Flower was Marika's "sister", actually she was a pretty black nubian. So very sad that they all perished to a young lion, who was probably just learning to hunt.
Hans came here in September, he is a handsome guy and should have several offspring born in May. At least the lineage will continue. I hope we can get a couple of daughters that have the huge milk production that Marika had. Avalon, my heaviest milk producer has been bred to Hans, so hope for a couple of females.
Hans has matured quite a bit from this picture taken a few months ago. He is now sporting a nice beard.
I'm just glad we don't live right in the trees. Lions and bears don't like being out in the open. But I still close everyone up at night.
ReplyDelete