Sonoma State Star

Issue date: 3/15/06 Section: Entertainment

The only thing between the audience and these animals was small pieces of raw meat as Rob and Barbara Dicely showed off their big cats… and they mean big cats.

Rob was the muscle man who handled the cats and Barbara was the one who supplied us the information about the cats. Cat is really the wrong word.

All of the animals that were shown last Thursday night at the Cooperage were potential man eaters.

The beauty of this show was that it was much safer than going to the local regional park and seeing them for the few seconds before they would pounce on you.

Even though the big cat show was only about a half an hour it was yet another successful show put on by the Associated Student Productions. The Cooperage was filled to the brim and even the doorway with students and children.

The first big cat to jump on to the tables was the lynx which can weigh up to 84 pounds. Sure this was a cute cat but the chain attached to his collar reminds you that just because they look relatively harmless doesn't mean they are.

The next to venture out on stage was the Serval. Lucky for us this cat is indigenous to Africa. The Serval weighed between 20 and 40 pounds and had a long tail. This was another cat that got a lot of "awws…" until it showed its teeth reminding us once again that these animals are indeed wild.

The bobcat was the next cat in the show which was one of the more interesting in the show because this one directly involves the residents in California. This type of cat is all over North America and South Canada.

Even though it is still legal to hunt this fierce animal they still have a large population as they are quite adaptable to their surroundings.

Another thing Barbara mentioned was not to climb a tree in flight of the bobcat because it can climb faster than you, a lot faster.

One of the most rare animals the Dicely's have is the king cheetah which was thought to be its own species at one time. That was proven wrong as the Dicely's have one of the few in captivity.

The estimation is that there are only 30 of this breed worldwide. They have been sighted in remote parts of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa.

Then the grand finale started with the leopard. They crammed everyone in from the doorways and closed the doors. There was no escape!

This was the biggest cat of the night was well as the strongest and fastest. We were told that it could jump 40 feet and leap out of trees on to prey. This was somewhat alarming seeing that just about everyone watching the show was within a 40 foot radius of this animal.

This was even demonstrated when Rob held up a piece of meat above and attempted, and after a few tries succeeded, in catching the leopard as it jumped for the meat.

There were many "oohs…" and "ahhs…" by the end of the show but it came to a close when Rob gave out a warning to the audience: these cats were tame at the show but that doesn't mean that they are in the wild.

Rob and Barbara have their own ranch where they keep these magnificent animals. They do many shows, of course this was the only that was free. You can find more information about their shows and about the cats, including what type of growls they each make, at their website, www.leopardsetc.com.

The show was great fun and informative but the true joy was seeing the cats in person with your own eyes.

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