The story of Jamaji is one of the reasons for EARS. It is a sad story, but this happens to many exotic animals that have out grown their owner's expectations.

A young man, (let's call him Zed), called our Sanctuary and told us that he needed a place to keep his lion until he finished his facility and received his class 1 permit from the State Wildlife Office. We went with him to another facility to pick up Jumanji, a beautiful two and a half year old male lion.

Zed had Jumanji since Jumanji was a baby and had spent nearly every day with him. He could walk him on a leash and even brushed his mane every day. The facility where he had been staying wanted him removed, because Jumanji was reaching maturity and they were afraid that he would become dangerous and that Zed who had raised him and wanted to train him would get injured or killed and they did not want the liability.

When Jumanji arrived at EARS you could see the love that he had for the young man. Zed would brush him and walk him daily. Jumanji would look so forward to seeing Zed each day. When Jumanji saw Zed coming towards his pen he would get so excited and would call to him. I was very touched by the love that Jumanji had for Zed, and I was naive enough to think that it was mutual.

What I thought was love for Jumanji was actually ideas of grandeur. Zed started telling us every day, " I want to be filthy rich and famous." We tried to tell him that one in a million becomes filthy rich and famous with big cats and that Jumanji would soon reach a point that he could no longer work with him.

Zed volunteered at our facility so that he could be close to his lion. As Jumanji matured you could see the lion change. He still enjoyed being brushed, but he did not want to have a collar on, and definitely did not want to walk on a leash.. We asked Zed not to go into the enclosure with Jumanji any longer, for safety reasons. We told him that Jumanji needed to be a lion and be allowed to run free in his turn-out. We also explained to him that the male lion was the hardest with which to work after they mature, and that it was not wise for him to trust Jumanji any longer.

It seemed that Zed did not believe us. One day Jumanji challenged him. It scared Zed so badly that he told us that he had to get rid of Jumanji and that he would never trust him again. He wanted us to sell him a female tiger with which he could work and train. We told him that this was a Sanctuary where the animals here are not for sale, and the animals that live here, will always live here. A couple of days later, Zed left our facility. I told Gail that he would not be back. I saw that he had taken with him on this day Jumanji's collar and leash.

Jumanji somehow knew that his life long friend had left him. Each day Jumanji would watch and listen for the ATV that Zed used to ride when he fed. Each day he became more depressed as he realized that his owner was not there. I will never allow anyone to tell me that animals do not cry, for I saw this magnificent animal cry many a tear when the ATV would arrive at his pen and Zed not be on it. We even had to stop using the ATV because it affected him so.

He became so severely depressed that he developed an upper respiratory infection. We contacted his owner and told him that Jumanji was sick and that we had to call a Veterinarian to treat him. I also told him that Jumanji was depressed and needed to see him. I begged him to come and visit Jumanji. I just felt that if Jumanji could see him, it would make him feel better. To this day, Zed has neither called nor come to the facility to check on his lion.

Since Zed has left, we found out that before Jumanji, he had a Cougar and that when the Cougar matured and started to get out of hand, he got rid of him also. For him to honestly think that he could train an animal as large and massive as a lion when he could not even handle a Cougar truly amazes me. I hope he has learned his lesson and he will not walk away and leave another animal for someone else to have to take responsibility.

It has been many months now since Jumanji was abandoned. All of us that work here visit Jumanji several times a day and take him his favorite food. He is now healthy and starting to adjust well to us. We rub his ears and scratch his head, through his pen of course and he is told at least 30 times a day that he is loved and he will be well taken care of . I feel in my heart that somehow he understands what we are saying.

He shares a 15,000 square foot turn-out pen with 3 young lions and Zhivah the EARS official mascot. They have to take turns using the large turn-out pen because Jumanji does not get along well at all with other cats. We have laid out the plans for Jumanji to have his own large turn-out pen. The 15,000 square foot pen with concrete dens ran the facility about $32,000.00. The facility to house Jumanji, and give him the room that he needs to run, since he has to have his very own, will cost about $18,000.00 We know that once people are made aware of EARS and see how well and spacious the animals live here, donations will help us complete Jumanji's space.