• Archives
  • Contact
  • Drawings
  • Meteor Mags
  • Music Albums
  • Paintings
  • PBN
  • Sea Monkeys
  • Secret Origin

Mars Will Send No More

~ Comic books, art, poetry, and other obsessions

Mars Will Send No More

Tag Archives: mountain lion

book review: The Puma Years by Laura Coleman

31 Wednesday Aug 2022

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in educational

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

big cats, bolivia, book review, books, cats, cougar, laura coleman, mountain lion, puma, the puma years, wayra

“I was always scared of her.“

The Puma Years: A Memoir is my favorite book I’ve read this year. It’s the true story of a young woman who, feeling like something was missing from her nice, safe life with a soul-crushing white-collar job, went on a trip to Bolivia and visited a ramshackle wildlife sanctuary. There, she was assigned to care for Wayra, a puma with a troubled past due to being a victim of the illegal wildlife trade which killed her mother and placed her in an abusive home as a kitten.

Over time, Laura—the author—bonds with Wayra, but the path is not an easy one. Wayra distrusts people, and rightfully so, and she is kept in an enclosure where she is very unhappy. One of Laura’s jobs is to take Wayra on daily runs, as pumas like to roam, but the big cat is almost too much for her to handle safely.

You might wonder why they didn’t just let Wayra run free into the Bolivian jungle, but Wayra never had a mother to teach her to hunt and navigate the wilderness. In one especially heartrending episode, Wayra does escape. But she cannot deal with her freedom, so she constantly circles the camp and becomes a danger. When Laura finds Wayra and tries to put her on a leash, Wayra lashes out, and the wounds require stitches.

But Laura does not blame the puma. She realizes she handled the situation in the worst way possible. Laura writes:

It’s me who has these ropes, ropes that held her when she was a tiny, mewling puffed-up ball of fur, that tightened around her neck. That whipped her when she was sad, that took her mother and everything she knew away.

Other dramatic passages tell of the outbreak of a forest fire that threatened the entire sanctuary and the lives of the many animals and people there. Laura and her friends risk their lives to dig a ditch, clear away the plants, and make a firewall. It appears many times that all might be lost for the big cats and their caretakers. But at last, the fire burns out, and when Laura visits Wayra in the aftermath, something magical happens.

Wayra, who had never swum in the nearby river—unlike a typical puma who has no fear of water—decides to go for a swim. Laura enters the river with her, and the two of them frolic in waters that I personally would be too scared to explore.

For most of the book, the relationship between Wayra and Laura seems like one step up and two steps back. I don’t remember ever crying so much over a book, but the journey is worth it. In the end, things do work out for Wayra. But Laura reminds us that deforestation and the illegal pet trade and the super-sketchy “zoos” of Bolivia require much more work to solve—a work Laura continued long after the events of The Puma Years.

If you have ever loved a cat, or wondered how those of us who do can form such strong bonds with our feline friends, then you need to add The Puma Years to your reading list. It will break your heart and sew it back together many times, and give you a glimpse into the nature of these magnificent animals.

Collector’s Guide: The Puma Years is available on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, Kindle, and audiobook editions.

puma by joe robertson

20 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in art studio

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

art, cats, cougar, Joe Robertson, mountain lion, nature, puma, scratch board, wildlife

puma by joe robertson

Scratchboard artist Joe Robertson’s work caught our eye at a local art festival last year. What a magnificient mountain lion he created! This print is called Mountain King. You can get one of your own online at Joe’s Art Gallery.

puma concolor aeternus

31 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in educational

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

big cats, cats, cats poster, cougar, endangered cats, endangered species, mountain lion, national geographic, puma

Mountain lions forever!

big cats national geographic cats in crisis poster- puma
big cats national geographic cats in crisis poster- (2)
big cats national geographic cats in crisis poster- (3)
big cats national geographic cats in crisis poster- (4)
big cats national geographic cats in crisis poster- (5)
big cats national geographic cats in crisis poster- (6)
big cats national geographic cats in crisis poster- (7)

cougar

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in educational

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

album of north american animals, animals, cats, clark bronson, cougar, mountain lion, puma, rand mcnally, vera dugdale

cougar by bronson and dugdale -002

MOUNTAIN LIONS FOREVER!

Collector’s Guide: from Album of North American Animals; Rand McNally, 1966. Text by Vera Dugdale, illustrations by Clark Bronson.

cougar by bronson and dugdale -001
cougar by bronson and dugdale -003
cougar by bronson and dugdale -004

pastel puma

05 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in art studio

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

art, cats, cougar, drawing, mountain lion, pastel, puma

pastel puma 1 - Copy

Pastel Puma. pastel on toned tan paper.

Mars Will Search No More!

Mars Will Stat No More!

  • 6,593,285 minds warped since 2011
Follow Mars Will Send No More on WordPress.com

Mars Will Advertise No More!

My Comic Shop banner

Mars Will Categorize No More!

  • art studio (98)
  • crime (42)
  • dinosaur (222)
  • educational (139)
  • first issue (110)
  • golden age (133)
  • humor (28)
  • indie (187)
  • jungle (57)
  • MeteorMags (18)
  • music (43)
  • occult (80)
  • pirates (17)
  • poetry (64)
  • postcards (44)
  • quarterly report (35)
  • science fiction (407)
  • superhero (435)
  • war (45)
  • western (10)
  • writing (22)

Mars Will Tag No More!

2000AD abstract acrylic advertising Alan Moore Alex Nino alien Al Williamson Amazing Spider-man animal inside you animals art Avengers Batman big box of comics Bill Mantlo birth black and white Black Panther book review books brains Brave and the Bold Captain America Carmine Infantino cats Charles Yates Chris Claremont Classics Illustrated collage collection comic book collage comic books crime Dark Horse Comics DC Comics dinosaur dinosaur books dinosaur comics Dinosaurs an Illustrated Guide Dr. Doom drawing Dreadstar dreams EC Comics EC Comics reprints Fantagraphics Fantastic Four first issue Flesh Flesh the Dino Files Galactus George Perez Gilberton Gil Kane Godzilla golden age guitar Harvey Comics Image Comics indie box Indie Comics Inhumans Jack Kirby Jack Kirby art Jim Lee Jim Starlin Joe Simon John Buscema John Byrne jungle Ka-zar Kevin O'Neill Last Gasp library of female pirates Life on Other Worlds lizard Man-Thing Mark Millar Marvel Comics Marvelman memoir meteor mags Micronauts MiracleMan monsters music nature occult OMAC origin painting pastel Patches Pat Mills pen and ink pirates Planet Comics planets poems poetry postcards prehistoric mammals Prehistoric World Prize quarterly report Race for the Moon racism Ray Bradbury Robert Kanigher robot Roy Thomas Satans Tears Savage Land science fiction self publishing Silver Surfer sketchbook sundays Smilodon Spider-man Stan Lee Steve Bissette Steve Ditko Steve Rude Strange Sports Strange Tales Superman Swamp Thing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teen Titans Thor time travel Triceratops Turok Turok Son of Stone tyrannosaurus rex underground comix Vertigo Comics war war comics Warren Ellis Warrior Weird Fantasy Weird War Tales Wolverine writing X-men X-men covers Young Earth Zabu

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Mars Will Send No More
    • Join 799 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Mars Will Send No More
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...