ALF Animal Liberation Front
April 2018
This particular big cat, in her prime and perfect health, chose a more gentle way of life, vegetarian! Little Tyke's story spread in Great Depression-ravaged America, giving spiritual hope and renewed faith to people from all walks of life.
Little Tyke turning away her head from meat (and wincing)...
At four years old, the mature African lioness weighed 352 pounds. Her
body stretched 10 feet 4 inches long and could run 40 miles per hour. Her
skull, highly adapted to killing and eating prey, possessed short powerful
jaws. Normally, African lions eat gnus, zebras, gazelles, impalas, and
giraffes. This particular big cat, in her prime and perfect health, chose a
more gentle way of life, vegetarian!
A Violent Birth
Georges and Margaret Westbeau, standing outside the thick steel bars of the
cage, watched nervously. Inside, a vicious, raging beast baring razor claws
and glistening fangs, roared. Flinging herself at the couple, who watched
from barely three feet away, her suffering amber eyes defied their presence.
Always, in the past, this lioness destroyed her offspring as soon as they
were born. Four times in the last seven years, her powerful jaws had crushed
her newborn cubs, furiously throwing them against her cage's bars where they
tumbled, lifeless.
Denying the normal instincts of motherhood, what possessed this lioness? Her
life mocked its former freedom. She lived a caged animal, taken from the
wild and tortured by those who captured her. Did she feel that by destroying
her cubs they would be spared the humiliation that she endured?
Suddenly, the newborn cub came flying towards the people anxiously watching.
Georges quickly grabbed the cub through the bars before it could be killed.
Its right front leg dangled helplessly from its mother's brutal jaws. In the
face of such fury the only thing the human could say was, 'You poor little
tike'.
The Westbeaus took the three-pound 'Little Tyke' to their Hidden Valley
Ranch near Seattle and there it joined the menagerie of other animals
including horses, cattle, and chickens. Curious peacocks lined the housetop,
kittens peered through a picket fence, and two terriers danced with joy for
the new addition to the household. Drinking bottles of warm milk, Little
Tyke began the long road to recovery.
Mysterious Reaction
With the advice of experts the Westbeaus began weaning Little Tyke onto
solid food at three months. Leaving only a favorite doll, they removed most
of her rubber toys, replacing them with bones from freshly slaughtered beef.
They carried the small cub to the bones. Unexpectedly, she violently threw
up!
Experts told them in no uncertain terms that lions couldn't live without
meat. In the wild, lions ate only flesh - eleven pounds a day for an adult
female. Alarmed at Little Tyke's strange behavior, they wondered at how they
could introduce meat into her diet? In the meantime, they continued feeding
Little Tyke baby cereal mixed with milk.
A well meaning friend suggested mixing beef blood with milk, in increasing
proportions. Given milk containing ten drops of blood, Little Tyke would
have nothing to do with it. They mixed in five drops of blood, and hid that
bottle. As she sucked on the plain milk they quickly switched bottles. Again
she refused it. In desperation they added *one* drop of blood to a full
bottle of milk, but Little Tyke refused this bottle as well, and they could
only stare in amazement.
Another friend suggested putting plain milk in one hand, and milk mixed with
hamburger in the palm of the other hand. Little Tyke readily licked the milk
from one hand, but when Georges changed hands, she immediately turned away.
Sensing her distress, Georges wiped his hands on a nearby towel and picked
her up. Hissing in fear and cringing away, she looked sick from the
danger-smell of meat on his hand. She only settled down when given a fresh
bottle of milk held in washed hands.
Thousand-dollar Reward
At nine months old and weighing sixty-five pounds, Little Tyke had the
splints and bandages on her leg taken off for the last time. She slowly
learned to depend on the healed leg, and mingled with other animals on the
ranch.
Since the ranch didn't earn enough income to make ends meet, the Westbeaus
ran a small cold storage plant in town. Little Tyke came with them when they
went to work and word got around about this vegetarian lioness. When she was
four years old, the Westbeaus advertised a thousand dollar reward for anyone
who could devise a method tricking Little Tyke into eating meat. Numerous
plans met with failure since Little Tyke refused to have anything to do with
flesh.
The Answer
The caretakers of this gentle animal sought out animal experts, always
asking them about diet. Finally, one young visitor set their mind at ease.
With serious eyes he turned to them and asked, 'Don't you read your Bible?
Read Genisis 1:30, and you will get your answer.' At his first opportunity
Georges read in astonishment, 'And to every beast of the earth, and to every
fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein
there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.' At
that point, after four years, the Westbeaus finally stopped worrying.
Little Tyke's meals
A typical meal consisted of various grains, chosen for their protein,
calcium, fats, and roughage. Margaret always cooked a few days' supply ahead
of time. At feeding time, a double handful of the cooked grains along with
one-half gallon of milk with two eggs, supplied Little Tyke a delicious
meal. She had one condition before eating. Her favorite rubber doll had to
be right next to her!
For teeth and gums, the Westbeaus supplied rubber boots, since she refused
bones. They attracted her to the boots by sprinkling them with perfume. One
boot lasted almost a month.
Little Tyke had many close animal friends. Her favorites were Pinky (a
kitten), Imp (another kitten), Becky (a lamb) and Baby (a fawn).
National Publicity
You Asked For It, the popular television show hosted by Art Baker, once
featured Little Tyke. The producers wanted a scene with chickens, which
didn't bother Georges since Little Tyke roamed easily among chickens at
Hidden Valley Ranch. When the film crew brought the chickens in, they turned
out to be four little day-old chicks!
Slurp of the tongue
Little Tyke's only previous experience with new chicks had been with a hen
and her chicks who had wandered onto the lawns around their home on the
ranch. Georges thought nothing of it until he saw Little Tyke acting
peculiarly, slinking into the house, and looking guilty with lips tightly
closed over obviously open jaws. He called 'Tyke! What have you got?'
Instantly her mouth opened and a little chick popped out, unharmed. Flapping
its little down-covered wings, it almost flew back to its upset mother.
Apparently Little Tyke had affectionately licked the tiny chick, as she was
prone to do when, with one huge slurp of the tongue, the little chick had
popped into her mouth, and she hadn't known how to fondle it further!
With the amazed camera crew filming, Little Tyke strode over to the chicks,
hesitated long enough to lick the chicks *carefully* and *gently* with the
very *tip* of her tongue, and moved away with a yawn. A moment later she
came back to lie down among the chicks. They immediately made their way into
the long silky hair at the base of her great neck where they peered out from
the shelter of their great protector. Another scene saw a new kitten, after
an introduction, walk over to Little Tyke's huge foreleg and sit down.
Little Tyke crooked one paw around the tiny creature and cuddled it closer.
In front of cameras, Art Baker picked up the Bible and read: 'The wolf and
the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the
bullock.' Mail poured into the producers, making this episode one of the
most popular in the show's history.
Little Tyke's Death
Unfortunately, while spending three weeks in Hollywood for the show, Little
Tyke contracted virus pneumonia, a disease that took her life a few weeks
later. The sudden change in climate may have been a contributing factor. She
succumbed quietly in her sleep, retiring early after watching television.
Inspiring to this Day
Her life is over, but her teachings live on. Of the many lessons she taught,
not the least is that love removes fear and savagery. Little Tyke reflected
the love and care shown to her after the first few moments of her precarious
birth.
Thousands saw photographs of her with her lamb friend, Becky,
inspiring many to see the world a fresh way: two such diverse natures
enjoying each other's love!
Her favorite and closest friend, however, was Becky, a lamb who preferred Little Tyke's company to any of the other animals.
One eminent attorney kept a huge enlargement of this photograph in his office, and pointed to it as he counciled couples on the verge of divorce.
Scientific Dilemma
Science is at a loss when it comes to Little Tyke. Felines are the strictest
of carnivores. Without flesh she should have developed blindness, as well as
dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a degenerative disease that turns heart
muscles flabby and limits their ability to pump blood. This is because her
diet didn't contain an adequate source of the amino acid, taurine.
Little known in the 1950's, subsequent research at UC Davis in 1976 proved
that taurine is an essential nutrient for felines, the lack of which would
cause degeneration of the retina. Later research implicated inadequate
taurine levels in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) as well. For cats with DCM, if the
disease has not progressed too far, administering taurine causes an almost
miraculous recovery. Formerly, cats lived only a few days to weeks after
diagnose.
Taurine is nonexistent in natural non-animal sources. It is present in
minute amounts in milk and eggs. Little Tyke could have gotten her taurine
requirement from milk, if she drank 500 gallons per day, or from eggs, if
she ate more than 4000 per day. How *did* Little Tyke get taurine?
Perhaps even more important, why did Little Tyke disown her species'
instincts? Little Tyke is a curiosity to the public, aberration to
zoologists, anomaly to scientists, and an inspiration to idealists.
Tyke seems to fulfill the Biblical prophecy "The wolf also shall
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the
calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall
lead them." (Isaiah 11:6).
To condition her stomach, Little Tyke would spend an hour at a time eating
the tall grass in the fields - another striking reminder of the prophecies
of Isaiah 11:7 and 65:25, "� the lion will eat straw like the ox."
Little Tyke had an exceptionally gentle and loving nature, and all animals
on the
farm came to be petted by her without any fear.
Little Tyke's story spread in Great Depression-ravaged America,
giving spiritual hope and renewed faith to people from all walks of life.
She was taken on tour to be shown to a public desperately hungry for love
and innocence.
Also read The Lion Who Lay Down with the Lamb
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