Mit Anfang zwanzig ist Laura Coleman vor allem eins: orientierungslos. Frustriert kündigt sie ihren Job in London und reist mit dem Rucksack durch Bolivien. Dort führt ein Zufall sie in eine Tierauffangstation mitten im Dschungel. Das Camp ist schmutzig, die Tiere sind verblüffend exzentrisch und überall schwirren Mücken - doch trotz aller Beschwerden gibt Laura nicht auf und bleibt. Als ihr aufgetragen wird, täglich mit dem traumatisierten Pumaweibchen Wayra spazieren zu gehen, ist sie entschlossen, sich der Herausforderung zu stellen. Langsam bildet sich ein feines Band, das die beiden für immer verändert ...
In this rapturous memoir, writer and activist Laura Coleman shares the story of her liberating journey in the Amazon jungle, where she fell in love with a magnificent cat who changed her life. Laura was in her early twenties and directionless when she quit her job to backpack in Bolivia. Fate landed her at a wildlife sanctuary on the edge of the Amazon jungle where she was assigned to a beautiful and complex puma named Wayra. Wide-eyed, inexperienced, and comically terrified, Laura made the scrappy, make-do camp her home. And in Wayra, she made a friend for life. They weren't alone, not with over a hundred quirky animals to care for, each lost and hurt in their own way: a pair of suicidal, bra-stealing monkeys, a frustrated parrot desperate to fly, and a pig with a wicked sense of humor. The humans, too, were cause for laughter and tears. There were animal whisperers, committed staff, wildly devoted volunteers, handsome heartbreakers, and a machete-wielding prom queen who carried Laura through. Most of all, there was the jungle--lyrical and alive--and there was Wayra, who would ultimately teach Laura so much about love, healing, and the person she was capable of becoming. Set against a turbulent and poignant backdrop of deforestation, the illegal pet trade, and forest fires, The Puma Years explores what happens when two desperate creatures in need of rescue find one another.
