In the middle of the daily routine of dodging bullets and ducking from airborne bombs, these stunning Big Cats also have to contend with poachers, murderous shepherds and being trapped for the illegal pet trade.

Would you buy a Snow Leopard for a pet? Lots of people do. And lots more people insist on a coat made from the fur of a once living, and beautiful, creature.

Snow Leopard fur is thick of course, it’s pretty cold up in the mountains and this is what appeals to the gross humans who wrap this hacked-off fur around their own bodies when they don’t need to! No, people have clothes but they insist on wearing furs because they think it makes them look attractive. Fur is more attractive on the Snow Leopard, take my word or it.

Why can’t the fur coats be made with blood and lumps of gristle still on?

Why can’t these coats drip blood as the wearers swan down the street?

Snow leopards live in really high places, up between 3,000 and 5,500 metres (9,800 and 18,000 ft) above sea level in the rocky mountain ranges of Central Asia. There are about 3,000 to 6,000 of them left – which is a lot more leopards than there are tigers.

You can clearly see that they’re superb examples of adaptation. All cats are extremely well adapted but these wild cousins of mine who live in the cold places really have my respect.

Their bodies are stocky, their fur is thick, and their ears are small and rounded, all of which help to minimise heat loss. Their paws are wide, which distributes their weight better for walking on snow, and have fur on their undersides to increase their grip on steep and unstable surfaces.

Their long tails fascinate me. In their rocky home, a cat needs a long tail for good balance. The tails are nice and thick too, (fat storage) and with even thicker fur. With a tail like this, a cat can wrap it around his face for extra warmth and protection from the snow when taking a nap.

Can Big Cats win the war in Afghanistan? Can they last longer than the humans who kill each other there?

If no person wore a fur coat ever again, there might be some hope.

Judge for yourself. Is she too demanding?

I will admit to not always respecting my staff’s personal space, especially when they are on my big bed.

I will, on occasion, but not as often as they claim I’m sure, wedge in between them, roll around (love to put my butt in their face; always gets a reaction) and find my perfect comfort zone

Or just a lady looking for the perfect comfort zone?

Looks like she has a tuxedo admirer too (in the background) but notice which cat is in centre focus.

You have to agree that Mau Mau is an extremely good looking cat. Black Cats are (almost) always easier on the eye than any other shade, pattern or stripe, but some black cats are shinier and furrier than others. Mau Mau’s fur is more link mink than moggy!

Mau Mau joins the famous Black Cat Fan Club

But new research has revealed that Tasmania’s extinct thylacine was a solitary ”pounce predator”, stalking and ambushing its prey more like a cat than a wolf or a wild dog.

Whatever it was, poor thing, it’s been killed off by people. My heart may respond more quickly to an extinct creature that’s a Cat, perhaps, but every species wiped out by human greed must be mourned. How many are still left? Every month another goes under.

The Tasmanian Tiger gets a bit of press occasionally but it doesn’t matter to him anymore. He’s long gone.

The woman who feeds me thinks there are a couple of Tasmanian Tigers left but I think she’s whisting in to the wind. Upwind at that.