[FEL-L] Big cat enthusiast ‘will be missed’

[BigCatSimba at aol.com]

Big cat enthusiast ‘will be missed’
23 January 2008

 
A BIG cat enthusiast who died after a long-term illness has been described  
as a "passionate and likeable man" by his widow.

Pete James, 68, had  ferociously fought to save the near-extinct clouded 
leopard, breeding them at  his home in Willow Walk in Welwyn 

However, he died at home on January 2  almost a year on from being diagnosed 
with the paralysing Motor Neurone  Disease.

Widow Jackie, 44, remembered her husband as a "lovely, funny man  who had no 
enemies".

She said: "He loved being outside and couldn't stand  being inside and that 
is why having the disease was so hard for him because he  loved his animals."

Pete was born in Hackney, London, in July 1939 and  developed an early love 
for big cats when his father took him to see Tarzan at  the cinema.

At the age of 11 he moved to St Albans before going on to  breed champion 
German shepherds.

In 1983 he moved to Willow Walk and  seven years later achieved his long-term 
goal of buying a pair of cats from  America to breed.

But it was in 2000 that he made his "big dream" a  reality and became only 
the second person in mainland UK to breed clouded  leopards.

In September 2005 he married Jackie at Paradise Wildlife Park  in Broxbourne, 
on the platform above the big cats, after meeting her in  1998.

"It was the most amazing day of my life and it was so right to do  it there," 
said Jackie.

"That is why we got on so well we used to travel  the world going to zoos and 
we both loved it.

"He would tell people in  the zoos that we visited if he thought they were 
doing things wrong.

"He  cared so much about the cats and all animals."

Over 300 people attended  his funeral at Harwood Park crematorium in 
Stevenage last Friday Over 300 people attended  his funeral at Harwood Park 
crematorium in Stevenag

"It just shows how much he was liked. We're really going to  miss him," added 
Jackie.
 
_http://www.whtimes.co.uk/content/whtimes/news/story.aspx?brand=WHTOnline&cate
gory=News&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newswhtnew&itemid=WEED23%20Jan%202008%2009%
3A49%3A52%3A350_ 
(http://www.whtimes.co.uk/content/whtimes/news/story.aspx?brand=WHTOnline&category=News&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newswhtnew&itemid=WEED23%2
0Jan%202008%2009:49:52:350) 






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