By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The time of the day has always dictated if you will see the two female lions or the male lion at the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo.
Luke is the elder statesman at eight years old and Amana and Sauda are four years old. The two females were brought to the zoo in 2017 to be companions for Luke.
Through
multiple years of introducing the lions in a safe approach, zoo staff allowed
all three lions to be “out in the yard” of the exhibit at the same time in
August. Brit Spaugh Zoo Curator Ashley Burdick said the first time sharing the
exhibit went well but the second interaction forced the staff to dial back the
introductions.
"We base the introduction on Luke every day," said Burdick. "On the warmer days, we might keep trying if he seems calm. The last one we did, he was circling the girls and that's not a behavior we want to see. At this point, we're getting to 'will it ever happen' because we have been trying for a long time."
Luke shared the exhibit with Boss, another male lion, for years before Boss was
humanely euthanized in 2016. Trying to form a pride for Luke, the girls were
brought to Great Bend from Florida a year later.
Burdick said the zoo is not done
trying to see if the lions can coexist in the exhibit, but sometimes these
introductions just do not work out.
"They are big, giant animals and if they don't want to do something...they're not going to do it," said Burdick. "The girls get to go out in the morning and we flip-flop them in the afternoon. Everybody gets yard time even if they can't share it at the same time."
The Great Bend zoo is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day with free admission.