Lion Physical

A few days ago, I got to help participate in a once in a lifetime experience. People often ask me how often we have “in cage with an animal” encounters. The answer to that is not very much, in fact, hardly at all. The reason why we do not go in the enclosures and back holdings with an animal present is for ours and the animal’s safety. Big cats and bears are still dangerous animals and should be respected for that reason. In addition, it gives comfort to each animal to know that their space belongs to them. It helps reduce stress and anxiety when trust is established between the keeper and the animal. So, the only time keepers and technicians can go inside an enclosure with a cat and or bear is present is when they are under anesthesia.

Even though my part to help out with this lion physical was not much, it was truly an amazing experience. Most people’s interaction with cats and bears is typically at a zoo or even out in their natural habitat. I have been fortunate enough to have literally face-to-face encounters with a barrier inches away with these animals. After that day, I was able to have my hand touching a very strong lioness. This was a very exhilarating feeling knowing that such a small percent of people can actually have these encounters with these amazing animals once the lioness was safely under anesthesia. Once under anesthesia, I helped moved the lioness in a better position for the vet team to take over. We had to work quickly and get as much of the physical done before the anesthesia wore off or had to inject more in. With cats, they have a very strong vein in their tail so that we can take blood samples and blood pressures. I thought this was very interesting since I was expecting to see the vets get this information from the lion’s forearms.  We also did an ultrasound to look at all the main major organs to make sure everything was the way it should be. In addition, we looked at the pads of their paws, checked their claws for possible overgrowth, and their mouth. The mouth inspection was very interesting since I learned how to safely open up a carnivore’s mouth.

When animals are under anesthesia, the last indicating factor if there is enough anesthesia present is doing the jaw check. If the jaw is a bit tight and not easily able to move, more anesthesia is needed. The first reaction when coming out of anesthesia is having a clenched jaw. Even when animals are unconscious, if messed with, jaws can contract and bite you.