Freedom for Lion Cubs(Debra Widdicombe) The lions were free at last. Their golden paws padded along the manicured lawns of Park Street in the early morning light. Curtains twitched. Cats darted under parked cars. A paper boy wheeled by, mouth agape, absentmindedly throwing The Herald into Mrs Thornleigh’s rose bushes.

The paper boy’s bicycle crashed headlong into a parked car and the lions paused. Their golden paws seemed to hesitate as they watched the boy crumble to the tarmac. Then they continued down the manicured lawns of Park Street as the sunrise peeked over the ocean. They were free at last!

The mother and her four lion cubs wanted to see beyond the fence with the “integrity issue” to the freedom of the Sydney Parks. Of course, they would have loved to have returned to Africa but that would’ve been a long swim! These large kitty cats were afraid of water except of course, to drink it when they felt their thirst increasing in the Australian sunshine.

An emergency siren went off in the distance and Shimba looked back at her cubs and indicated to them to hide in the nearby shrubs, narrowly avoiding the sharp thorns of the rose bushes.

“Look over there! It’s them!” shouted a teenage girl. Everyone’s heads turned as the last cub’s tail disappeared into the undergrowth. The citizens of Sydney were on their mobile phones calling Taronga Zoo and the Police, in fact anyone who was available to help rescue the lions.

Shimba glanced at her cubs and thought about them all being tranquilized. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She turned around carefully and led them back to the enclosure, being careful not to frighten anyone on their way back.

Once they were safely back in the enclosure and being monitored, she counted her cubs. There was Nala, Kiara, Mufasa, Sarabi but no Sarafina. Where on earth was Sarafina? With fear in her heart, she realised that Sarafina must’ve got distracted and wandered off. She may need to go back and find her.

However, as she looked up, her favourite Zookeeper appeared, carrying a tranquilised Sarafina in her arms. She laid the cub down gently inside the gated enclosure and withdrew.

Shimba never even noticed the workers reinforcing the fence on the other side of the enclosure. Her eyes were on her sleeping cub, who looked peaceful and unharmed. Her golden paws padded quickly to the cub, and she started to lick her all over until an eyelid opened.

“Wake up, little one,” she appeared to be communicating to Sarafina. Finally, Sarafina opened both eyes and stood up a little groggily in the morning sunshine. She followed her mother, the proud lioness, across the grass, into a private resting area in the shade and flopped down again. The adventure was over for the meantime, but they would certainly try again.

As they lay together in the shade, Shimba started thinking about other weaknesses in the enclosure and when they should try to escape again. This time, it would need to be in the early hours of the morning, when the Zookeepers wouldn’t notice them gone so quickly, then she could take her pride of lions on a ship in Sydney Harbour, back to Kenya and her homelands.

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