A Purring Rescued Leopard Directs His Human to Where on His Head He Wants to Be Scratched

A beautiful African spotted leopard named Voodoo at the Cedar Cove Feline Conservatory & Education Center in Louisburg, Kansas, purred and huffed while his adopted human Steve scratched his head. The affectionate big cat rolled around and used his big and unfortunately declawed paws to show exactly where he wanted Steve to focus. Voodoo was brought to Cedar Cove as a kitten after the people who bought (and declawed) him as a playmate for their dogs found that they couldn’t handle him.

A nice morning massage by senior keeper Steve Klein is decidedly to Voodoo’s liking. Voodoo is a rescue animal, an African spotted leopard that came to Cedar Cove at 5 months old. Voodoo was purchased at three months of age by a private couple from a breeder with the intention of making him a house pet and playmate to two full grown rottweiler dogs. He was declawed on all paws but still overpowered his purchasers and was too rough and aggressive to keep, at which point he was brought to William Pottorff at Cedar Cove.

Voodoo also got up close and personal with the video camera.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.