Outtake Chapter Five – Chauncey the black leopard

The interior holding area for the leopards consisted of two spacious enclosures, each about 150-200 square feet, separated from each other by concrete walls with guillotine gates so cats could be moved from room to room internally for feeding or to isolate individual animals. The side facing the hallway was a steel mesh wall with a keeper access door equipped with a feed chute. The leopard enclosures were at the far end of the long central hallway of the Cat House. We learned to approach that area cautiously because Chauncey waited in ambush, ready for the unsuspecting keeper to leap out and hit the mesh wall with a ferocious spitting snarl, leaving the badly startled keeper to manage his shaking knees and intense adrenaline surge.

 Chauncey was aggressively feisty and coldly calculating, fiercely objecting to anyone who got too close. This ambush happened to me more than once before I learned to be prepared for it. As I gradually habituated to his aggressiveness, and he to my (feigned) indifference, the sneak attacks happened less often. But I heeded Roland's advice and never turned my back on Chauncey. He appeared to have a split personality. Inside the building, he threatened mayhem toward anyone who came near. Outside, he was calm and virtually ignored the public. I never saw him interact with a single visitor, not even so much as a lip curled into the beginning of a snarl.

Chauncey was but one of the many dangerous animals at the zoo, among them elephants, bears, and large primates. The zoo safety committee focused on preventing industrial accidents like slips and falls, minor animal bites, injuries from equipment use, and basic first aid. For example, we were all trained on the proper use of a ladder. Occasionally, an escaped animal drill was conducted. It was rumored that high-powered weapons were stored at the elephant compound, but this was on a need-to-know basis. I knew only because I rode to work with Roger Henneous, the Senior Elephant Keeper. He told me the rifle and shotgun were available in the unthinkable event of a dangerous animal escape. Unfortunately, sometimes the most dangerous animal is human.