I want to see the lions

The Portland Zoo is one of our favorite places to roam. When the kids were small, I had a membership that got us there monthly. We'd spend hours - eating our picnic lunch in different places every time we went, each of the kids quickly developed favorites. Our zoo is pretty cool. It's been exciting to see them remove much of the concrete.

When I was 18, one of my best friends worked at the gift shop at the older, more concrete-crazy zoo. But since I had a car and would pick her up, I got to do things most people didn't. I'd help prepare food for the big cats (the lion was my favorite). The lion and lioness were older and had been there for a long time but they were scrawny and lethargic from lack of roaming. In the wild, the lioness would hunt and kill and bring food back. Since being in captivity, they'd lost their prey instinct and they just layed around in the sunny spots they could occasionally find, waiting for a side of beef to be thrown their way to gnaw. They rarely moved when people would come to see them.

When Sean was a little guy - probably not even two yet - we went to see the lions, his favorite. They were still in the concrete enclosure from my childhood, one of the few exhibits that hadn't been improved to look more natural. Sean, who could only say a few words, roared at the top of his lungs at that geriatric male. And you know what? That lion roared back. And roared and roared. I had never heard him roar more than once in a while and it usually sounded like a yawn. He roared continually for almost 5 minutes. Sean was mesmerized. So were the keepers. We'd drawn a crowd, you see, because that was wild behavior and our lion had rarely behaved that way while there were guests at the zoo.

Sean was beside himself, he was so happy. We still talk about the day the lion roared. It was one of the last times we saw him before he was moved to a new zoo to allow for construction of a newer, more natural enclosure for the lions. Sean missed them when they were gone.

Now, for those of you that feel that zoos are cruel and should be banned, that animals belong in the natural world, I agree - to a point. I have to argue that I'm kind of on the fence about zoos.

I did get to pet the velvety head of a giraffe baby as it lay at it's mother's feet. I watched the intelligence in momma's eyes as she allowed me contact with her most treasured possession - her new little boy. I was close enough to the red pandas that I realized they could shred my face if they felt like it. They were one of the cutest animals I've ever seen up close - like a big, living, stuffed animal. And they were ready to scrape my face off. I donated money to feed them once to the chagrin of my husband at the time. Wouldn't that money have been better spent on a new leather jacket for him?

But the zoo here isn't just for my enjoyment or the oohs and aahs of the people watching otters eat, penguins swim, elephants play, or lions roar. We have a program that's helping keep endangered species from becoming extinct. We're learning about better zoo management and animal management. Most of the creatures that come to live here do so because they were injured or displaced in their natural environment and would have died. Our zookeepers are some of the best in the nation and we are fortunate to have a teaching zoo where people who want to care for the creatures of our world come to learn how to do it more compassionately.

"But would you want to live in a cage?" a woman that was protesting outside the zoo's employee entrance once asked. And I considered her question thoughtfully. To be alive and in a cage - or to die naturally (from the impact of mankind, most likely, as we pretty much destroy everything in our path)? I answered her as best I could. "I would want to live as carefully as I could, with as little impact as possible on the earth, and leave a better place for those to come after me, animal or man."

Today, I hope we get to see the lions.

Addendum: We had a great day. The new "predators of the serengeti" exhibit that opens later this year looks to be fantastic. They still have our most favorite wolves, now right next to the elk, another of our favorites. There was hardly anyone there, we got our delicious elephant ear and we saw the baby elephant. AWWWW!

But best of all, Sean seemed to have the "randy" effect on all the nearby males. Maybe its his 14 year old testosterone in overdrive, but every time he turned around, the male animal nearest him went to town on some poor girl (at least I'm assuming they were girls!!) to Sean's embarrassment and chagrin. The mandrills, the bats, even the goats. So Sean doesn't just affect the lions, it seems. Sara and I couldn't stop laughing, poor guy!