You can get in the cage with the lion if you want…

 

This post first published on Nov. 7, 2013…

Guy on the coast has his own little zoo. Some big cats. 40 acres, some bears, some monkeys, some birds.

Now he wants to sell the place. That’s gotta be tricky. I drive out with a photographer named Dennis Wall, who has kind of a wry sense of humor.

We talk to the guy awhile, walk around. Dennis gets a buncho pictures, glamour shots of the animals. We’re walking by one of the cages. It’s a mountain lion. Guy says the lion is super tame, a really nice lion.

“You can get in there with him if you want.”

We laugh.

“No kidding. People do. You sit down, he’ll come over and rest his head in your lap. You can scratch him.”

Who said my momma didn’t raise no fools?

I open the cage.

Dennis has his camera up. That’s after he tells me I’m a frickin idiot.

I climb inside. Sit in the back, lean against the wall. Lion saunters over. (Lions don’t walk, am I right? They pad. They slink. They move noiselessly.) Saunter is ok in this case.

He saunters over, puts his head in my lap. Proceeds to purr, which is very cool, because his purr is way more satisfying than the kind of purr you associate with, say, a house cat.

It’s more of a rumble. From a truck.

I scratch behind his ears. At this point, we are brothers. And I wanna hang out.

Dennis gets a couple cool pictures. Gives me one.

I send it to my mom, just to dispel any doubts.