Tucking the folder beneath her arm, Abby lead Robb out of the environment controlled reptile house into a barrage of light. Blanket fog swept the skies but in Southern California gray clouds acted only towards magnifying the sun’s potency.
Abby habitually shaded her eyes with a hand but still needed to squint as she peered up at Robb's looming frame.
'We have three lions right now,' Abby began, guiding Robb across the dirt path towards their enclosure. 'And one ocelot... named Ozzie.’ Clearly a clever name.
As with any big animal exhibit, the cat habitat was divided into three sections: the dens, the field and the feeding cages. The latter of the three, and the first stop on the tour, were decent sized solitary boxes of metal and dirt where keepers could feed their charges while interested donors and young children watched in safe fascination. For the time, these cages were empty, but in a few hours Abby explained they would be occupied with the throaty rumbles of purring cats and the metallic smell of cold beef blood.
'Our oldest is Amanda. She's fourteen and was born here, which is rare for this zoo. Most breeding is done at Los Angeles, San Diego or even San Francisco zoos. Then there’s Modjeska and Santiago who came to us just last year as foundlings. Their one year anniversary with us is actually in just a few days. On the thirty-first.'
Pushing open a large wooden door marked "Authorized Personnel Only", Abby let Robb into a portion of the exhibit that very few non-employees ever saw.
It was a simple room full of typical office supplies boasting very little interest at first sight. Desks crammed the space, cluttered with paperwork and research. More files overflowed from cabinets lining the walls and the room was lit by the same dull, achy overhead fluorescent lighting often found in station cubicles, sterile and boring.
The room had one feature, however, that a paper-pushing factory did not.
The den.
Lining the wall to their left was a series of black-masked windows, one-way mirrors where a scientist could stand and observe the intimate nature of the big cats cuddled close in their dark, cozy den just on the other side of two-inch thick glass. For the gray lazy day, all three cats were sound asleep, a mass of fur and warmth.
'Most of our animals are orphaned, injured or confiscated wildlife. They need permanent homes, and we're lucky enough to provide that.'