Djibouti Dispatch: An Airman’s encounter with a cheetah
Posted by Zac Fan in CHARITY, MISCELLANEOUS, UNCATEGORIZEDby Senior Airman Krystal Rannals
129th Maintenance Group
6/17/2009 - CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti – Senior Airman Krystal Rannals from the 129th Maintenance Group had the opportunity to visit a cheetah refuge with a USO-sponsored group of celebrities during her deployment to Djibouti. Below is her story about the visit.
As soon as we arrived at the Cheetah Refuge we were greeted by our French tour guides and the animal caretakers. The caretakers consisted of five women, one veterinarian, and the one animal advocate who started it all. The animal advocate was traveling through Djibouti and saw that cheetah skin was being sold in the downtown area. He wasn’t even aware that cheetah’s were indigenous to this particular part of Africa, but then to find that they were being hunted and killed for their skin lit a fire underneath him, hence creating this refuge for the cheetah’s.
He made it very clear that it was not a zoo, but a refuge. Therefore the animals are the priority. So if our mere presence bothered them, we would be removed from the area. Lucky for us the animals actually enjoyed having us there…some a little more than others as you’ll find later.
We split into two groups in order to enter each area in a non-threatening capacity. I just so happened to have Joel Moore, Zach Levi, and Christian Slater in my group. At first my thought was, “How am I suppose to fully enjoy myself without having the pressure of saying or doing something humiliating around these people?” But within a matter of minutes all the servicemembers found that they’re normal like us.
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I’ve always liked Christain Slater – ever since the “Untamed Heart” movie with Marisa Tomei. It’s too bad his last series flopped. Hopefully he can get put in something good that will last. He’s too talented of an actor not to be in the public eye.
And Krystal – what a beautiful smile. Very pretty lady. Kind of makes the term “airMAN” seem a little “off.” Thank you for answering the call to serve your country. God bless you.
That’s good that there’s such care for animals.