by Celia

Imagine a place with long golden beaches, tall green jungles, turquoise waters, mountains reaching towards bright blue sky, colorful birds flitting between trees and monkeys swinging through the leaves. A perfect and magical place. Along the shore are small thatched huts and open air restaurants. In one restaurant is a baby civet, a Small Indian Civet to be exact. The civet’s name is Sang. But first, what is a civet? Is it a cat or a weasel? Or something else entirely?

At first we asked the same questions. A civet is a small carnivorous mammal that is native to the tropics of Asia and Africa. Sang had been orphaned when her mother was killed by a machine clearing agricultural fields. She was then taken in by a local woman named Uee. Uee worked at a restaurant, so that was where Sang lived. Everyone at the restaurant seemed to love Sang, both the workers and the guests. Sometimes Uee would let some of the guests hold her and we got to be some of those lucky ones. Although Uee definitely did her best to make sure Sang was happy, I’m sure that it is hard for Sang to live in a plastic carrier, with none of the freedom of her wild life or the company of her own kind. I guess that is the reality for all captive animals. No matter our intentions, we will never know what they truly want or need, and that must be hard.