(The night before), the weekly volunteer party got out of hand. The attendees of the morning’s meeting—those with the appropriate big-animal training—were not awake or signed in. I was present. Hungerful, but present. Even though it typically requires months of training and animal integration/familiarization, I agreed to assist with the puma.

One of the team members and I reached the enclosure of the puma after walking through the jungle for an hour. The enormous cat clearly disliked me as it growled at me. However, that did not prevent us from completing our task. We went into the cage, put two ropes on the “collar” of the puma, and started walking him through the jungle.