A Lions dinner

[Davejb]

As I,ve already mentioned, we have a zoo where I live up in the woods. Many years ago before it was sold to new owners, it was owned by a guy called Peter Phipps, who later became infamous for what he did, which I,ll explain later., However Peter had 11 Lions on site, four males and the rest females. There were two alpha males both fully grown and the other two were younger. Part of my patrol area included this zoo, and every Sunday I would go and have a cupper with Peter, talk about any problems he was having with yobs or people trying to break in. But for some reason I had never been there at the right time!!, and I,ll explain,unbeknown to me Sunday was the day that the keepers would walk the male Lions, on chains around the zoo without the public being present, anyway I was talking to Peter when I was knocked off my feet by something really heavy, once I,d got up I turned to see that I was face to face with the biggest fully grown male lion called George. Theres not much you can do in a situation like that, but hope for the best and trust it aint hungry. To say I was surprised is an understatement as I suspect theres not many people around to experience that event. Now George liked to play, he thought it was funny to take a swipe at you, and for that reason his claws had been clipped and shaped, but being clouted by a beast this size not only hurt but knocked you all over the place. You just cant go up to a Lion and rub its ears or ruffle its mane in case he opens his mouth and you lose an arm. But George apparently was,nt like that. His famous trick was to jump up, place his paws on your shoulders and breath over you. Now although I was already worried about this situation, the fact that I now had a 400lb Lion resting on me, while he was standing on his hind legs did,nt fair to well with me feeling safe, I,m 6 foot 1, this Lion was now standing at about 7 feet looking down at me, and his face as close as a foot from mine. His breath was awful and every pant he took could have floored the HULK. It was then he thought it would be funny to give out a roar, with a full set of knashers on display, that was when my rear end started to pucker a bit, then he did it, he licked my face, with a tongue the size of a mans forearm and feeling like sandpaper and he did,nt want to stop, I dont know if he was just tasting me for later or what. When he,d finished soaking me he jumped down and did what most cats do rub against your legs, and started to purr. It was an incredible experience and one I,m now glad happened especially as to what happened to all the Lions. Peter Phipps was selling the zoo, the new owners did,nt want all the Lions, they only wanted two,but because these Lions were a pride, Peter in a fit of despair, (as noone else wanted them either), took all the Lions down to Margate in the back of a covered lorry. He had placed a pipe from the exhaust into the rear section and by the time he arrived at the coast the Lions were all dead. It became a headline news piece, and was a very sad day for me with the memory of George just a few months before. Peter was prosecuted and fined and later committed suicide because of depression. All told good and bad memories, even more so as the new owners, who I knew anyway ,went and got a pride of Lions which are still there to this day, which I have to say are not the friendliest 

[Waffenamt]

I recall that story about the Lions and poor Peters demise.

[Davejb]

Yeah, the thing about Peter was that he was,nt a very good business man but he really cared for all the animals even if he had to go hungry or delay wages, it was all about the animals plus he was a very friendly person albeit a bit of a likable rogue but there was no harm in him. He got along with most of us coppers, even came to quite a few of our police balls. The papers made him out to be some form of crank but then we all know what papers do to get a story

[Bil4338]

A real bittersweet story that.