Photographer Al Fenn was commissioned to prepare a photo essay for LIFE magazine about life with an American (tree) leopard, a smaller version of the South American tabby cat, domesticated in the 1960s (1961) by a couple from Manhattan (New York), Si and Meg Merrill . Back then, exotic animals such as leopards, chimpanzees and even kangaroos were allowed and very popular as pets.
The leopard they bought Si and Meg Merrill, he heard the name Montezuma respectively Monte. His diet consisted of beef and turkey heart with supplement common watercress. These cats eat grass and other vegetation in the wild and hunt small mammals and birds. Monte, not from Zotto, but from Manhattan, was very picky when it came to vegetables, because curious character but she must be under a watchful eye at all times. But according to the owner, life would be half as fun without him.
Because American leopards are a force agile wild cats and excellent female climbers who can also jump long distances up to 3.7 meters, it was obvious from afar that it would not be possible tame. Exclusion from the natural habitat (Central and South America) was too radical and when the years 1971 the photographer returned, and the country's politics were already leaning towards yes bans exotic animals as domesticated, the owners of Monte also saw this. Merrill poured her experience into two books, which she dedicated to exotic animals.
READ MORE: Life with a lion
South American tabby cats were sidelined in 2008 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared to be almost an endangered species, as their habitat is increasingly threatened by deforestation.
