Florida
has well-known problems with bears, pythons,
wild hogs and surfing snakes.
Now
it can add lions to that list. Seriously,
Florida, you have a lion problem. According to WFTV.com, a lioness dug out of an enclosure at a Tampa
Bay wildlife sanctuary early Friday morning, but has since been caught.
 |
| Lion that escaped her enclosure, then realized she was in Tampa |
It
got out of its secure enclosure, and a call was made to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. FWC officers
arrived and located the animal resting comfortably within the facility’s
perimeter fence a short time later. It
was than shot with a tranquilizer and returned to a secure area.
It
probably realized it was in Tampa Bay and had nowhere to go that was any better
than where it already was. I’d be
depressed too. (I take no shots at St. Pete, which I hear is wonderful. Stay on that side of the bay). I’d probably stay within
the fence of the place, but outside my cage.
Which, when you think about it, is somewhat like being within the city
limits of Tampa Bay.
This
leads, however, to the more troubling question of what a large lion is doing
inside a private wildlife sanctuary within Tampa Bay anyway. We posted earlier on the propensity of people
to buy lion and tiger cubs, then give them up when the lions and tigers grew up
into huge killing machines. They don’t go to zoos. They go to private sanctuaries,
where they can either escape, or more regularly, kill the person who is caring
for them.
The
guy caring for the lion in Tampa was lucky.
He was charged with a misdemeanor, but is still alive. But, he lives in
Tampa, so there’s that.
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