Jambo

Panthera leo leo

My name is Jambo (pronounced Yam' Bo) which is a Swahili word meaning "Hello".

I was sold to a human to become their "pet" because they always wanted a "Big Cat".

After they received me, my human owners found out that it was illegal to own an African Lion

so they abandoned me in a vacant lot in the middle of winter to die.

I was rescued and flown to my new home called Cat Tales.

I really like it here because I am treated with respect and live with other endangered cats.

I have Tigers and Lions for neighbors, but my best friend is the dog I grew up

with named Lbs (pronounced Lubs) His name is the abbreviation for Pound,

because he was rescued from "the pound". We have grown up together and Lbs taught me

to walk on a leash so I could go to schools and teach children about the big cats.

It took me five years to grow up and be a "Lion King", however my pal Lbs

still lives next door even today and we remain best friends even though he still is the "Big Boss".

He only moved out because he wouldn't share the den with me after I grew up.

Note: Jambo is a Barbary Lion. If the lion is the King of the Beasts then the

Barbary Lion was the King of Kings. A full-grown male Barbary lion is larger

than the more common Sub-Saharan Lion, and can weigh over 600 pounds (272 kg). Barbaries,

also known as Nubian lions, used to prowl widely in North Africa, which was then forested terrain.

The Romans used Barbary lions in their gladiator contests. In Aesop’s fables,

it would have been a Barbary lion that spared Androcles in the arena,

out of gratitude to the Greek slave who earlier removed a thorn from his paw.

In Ethiopia, the Emperor Haile Selassie tethered Barbary lions near his throne.

A Barbary was used as a model for the bronze lions seen today in London’s Trafalgar Square.

Most recently, the menacing Scar in Disney’s “Lion King” was patterned on a Barbary Lion.

Although the Barbary Lion has been classified as extinct since the 1920’s,

a handful of lions in captivity around the world that are descended from the original

Barbary are being studied for possible breeding and reintroduction.