My Unsual Pet

It is often preferred to own a pet as it works as a reliever of all the worldly tensions. Well, I had one unusual pet; no my pet was no dog, cat, horse or a bird but a cheetah! Since my father’s job involved transfers every three years, we once had chance to explore South Africa. And something unusual happened with us on my birthday, which changed my perception towards life. My home was situated nearby the jungles and on my birthday, this cute creature came crawling in, purring in a curbed voice and barely two weeks old. I thought that it’s a cat but when I went a little further, I saw a cub trebling with utmost fear. My mother was reluctant to provide shelter to this innocent baby fearing that agitated and angry mother cheetah might come looking for its baby and prove dangerous for us. But I wanted to provide this cub with some shelter so that it stays alive, if its mother came to search him.

Days passed by but no sign of his mother, then I made up my mind to make him my pet. Finally my obstinate nature got approval from parents and I was successful to shelter him. I named him Bruno! Gradually, even my parents developed fondness for Bruno and our house seemed empty and incomplete in his absence. He was very mischievous, but clever at the same time, this was his nature. Sometimes behaved like a human too. He had the habit to sleeping next to me and whenever I came back from school he pounced upon me out of affection. Initially I enjoyed it, but when he began to grow in size, my body could hardly handle his heavy frame. Phew, he almost weighed twice my size! We also made sure to instil hunting skills in him, but since he was our pet, he never needed to hunt for food because he was always provided with a ready meal. Ah, life for him became so leisurely that all he could do was laze around. He never ever made us realise that he belongs to predators’ lineage and behaved loving and caring. One day, our worst fear came true; my father received his transfer orders back to India. We had to leave Bruno behind, as it is illegal to pet such animals, he was about to complete three years too. We never wanted to leave Bruno but with a heavy heart had to send him to a zoo due to his incompetence to leading life in the jungle.

Today, Bruno is eight year old and after long stint in training, he will soon be released into the lap of nature to where he belongs. I really miss him, hoping for his long and good life.