- Tweeter
republish
Once upon a time there was a black leopard, named Diablo, who was brought to a reserve in South Africa one day. The manager of the place loved big cats. He knew how to play with the cheetahs, cuddle the lionesses, caress the tigers. But every time he approached Diablo's cage, he whistled, fingering, all the canines outside. He wanted to kill the man, it was clear. After several months of attempts to coax him, the farmer decided to call on a specialist in communication with animals.
Anna Breytenbach lives south of Cape Town. Following a career in human relations, she gave free rein to her passion for wildlife. She traveled to Australia, the United States where she met wolves, then joined a specialized institute for communication with animals. Back in South Africa, she was able to make contact with groups of baboons around Cape Town and better understand their stress.
When she arrives at the ranch where Diablo lives, she does not know anything about her story. She looks at him for a long time, calmly, gently, without saying a word. The black panther enters the fangs. Behind the fence, his eye wrinkles. The silent exchange continues.
" Diablo has been abused in the past, " says Anna to the owner. " He is afraid that he will be forced to do things he does not want to do ." Not only is he very vigorous, she continues, but he has a powerful and original personality. These words leave the assistance pantoise.
Relaxed, Anna resumes her silent dialogue, then turns to her host. " Diablo does not like being called a negative name ," she continues. " And then, he's worried about the two little leopards that were in the cage next to his, in his previous pen. "
She asks the man if he wants to send a message to the cat, but he is too moved to react. Anna can, however, answer the leopard that the two young ones are in good health and that no one will hurt her in the reserve. From now on, his name will be Spirit, to emphasize his independent spirit and strength of character.
The following images of a documentary broadcast on youtube show the cat walking quietly in his space. A beautiful Christmas tale, of which we made a children's book *.
Born in 1968 in Cape Town, beautiful and serene, Anna Breytenbach has no shortage of charismatic figures in her family. His uncle Jan was an officer admired by his men during the war in Angola. I was told that they would have followed him to Luanda if he had decided. This prestige worried the staff, who restricted him to other tasks. At retirement, the general is now dedicated to the preservation of animals. Another of his uncles, Breyten Breytenbach, is a poet who knows how to ignite audiences on every continent. Anna's father is the photographer Cloete Breytenbach, who has an eye for the unusual.
Anna leads an existence of communion with nature. She earns her living by bringing animals from one reserve to another. A rhinoceros entrusts him with terror to board a truck. She assures him that she will accompany him along the way, that he will be safe. Elephants are traumatized by the slaughter of their loved ones. Unlike the rest of the world, South Africa does indeed regulate its elephantine population.
First of all, she slips, it is appropriate to close the eyes and ask the animal's consent to exchange with him. If you want to stay with us, it means an alpha baboon, do like us, and dig. A horse tells him his aversion to some riders. A cat goes out of its way because women do not retract their big nails. Anna explains that this is not a sign of aggression.
When asked about her gift, the communicator uses a scientific terminology, namely that all beings are made of the same atoms and have the same energy. His method takes place in three stages: to calm his own mind, to manifest his intention to communicate with the animals and finally to send a thought or an emotion. The transfer takes place at a quantum level, in a language of pure energy, she says.
If we do not limit ourselves to the part about Spirit, the black leopard, the documentary tells us a lot about the art of stalking among the aboriginal populations of Africa or Australia, or even trackers of America. . By stamping on the prints left by the animals, the men enter into communication with their mind, which would leave a slight silver trace in the landscape. Like the three wise men in Galilee?
* Andrew Newman, Anna Breytenbach, How Diablo Became Spirit , Spirals, 2017
►All the posts of Georges Lory's literary blog