Even Cats Understand the Importance Family

I recently came across this article on the internet. (Lions are some of my favorite animals!) It was mostly pictures, but that's all that was needed to see the real story: the lions are all together in a loving family. The daddy lion and the cubs play together and have fun, and the mommy is concerned for the cubs safety, and everybody lives together in the zoo all happy. It seemed like the perfect little family, and I was moved by how they interacted.

Then I started looking into it a little more. On the National Zoo's website, I found the lion exhibit blog and read more on the lions featured in the article. As it turns out, the zoo has been working on creating this lion family for five years ever since a male and two female lions arrived from South Africa. The family is part of the zoo's "Build a Pride" project, and it has involved a lot of time and effort in introducing the lions, promoting social interaction, and eventually raising cubs and integrating all parts of the family into one exhibit. Even though it has taken the zoo time, effort, and money, the pride is beginning to coexist cohesively and for longer periods of time in the same habitat, and the hard work is clearly paying off. Another lion family gets to survive happily, keeping the species alive and bringing joy and education to zoo goers and animal specialists all around them.

I hope we can accomplish the same goal the zoo has worked so hard to do - bring families together. Check here or email us at familybutterfly@gmail.com to find out how you can get involved.