Pelo, a 13-year-old lion that spent nearly his entire life at Henry Vilas Zoo, died after a rapid decline in his health, the zoo announced Sept. 18.
Zookeepers noticed Pelo was moving strangely and losing his balance in June, the zoo said in their statement.
An eventual diagnosis found chronic degenerative disc disease in his neck and spine. Although he initially responded to treatment, Pelo’s symptoms returned in recent weeks and after a rapid decline, staff made the decision to euthanize him.
Pelo’s death is a loss that extends beyond the zoo. Over 13 years, Pelo left a connection between the Madison zoo and lions living thousands of miles away.
Jess Thompson, the zoo’s conservation and education curator, who also worked as one of Pelo’s keepers for his entire life there, told The Daily Cardinal the zoo has given more than $30,000 to wild lion conservation in Africa over the past five years, including a donation made in Pelo’s honor on his final day.
Pelo was born at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and arrived at Henry Vilas in 2014 at 16 months old, still a young lion with no mane yet.
Thompson recalled how Pelo had never seen snow.
“I remember the first time he went out onto exhibit and he just sat in the middle of the snow with the flakes falling around him, looking in wonder,” Thompson told the Cardinal.
That wonder never left him, Thompson said.
According to Thompson, Pelo loved stealing the tongs the keepers used to feed him through the mesh, then reluctantly nosing them back. He carried a favorite blue plastic donut proudly around his den and outdoor habitat, and loved nothing more than rolling around each winter with a donated Christmas tree. Even as he grew sick, he kept offering his tail through the fence for voluntary blood draws.
Pelo shared his life with Shakura, a lioness who wanted little to do with the “teenager” dropped into her pride. He won her over anyway and the two had cubs, Ansel and Amboseli, in 2017.
Since Pelo’s death, Shakura has remained relatively calm, Thompson said, though she had occasionally called out to Kusa, a tiger housed nearby.
On his final day, Pelo was given a party with his favorite things, including a giant box and part of a pig for his last meal. He was surrounded by keepers who had cared for him over the years.
“It's really beautiful that he was surrounded by everybody that had loved him,” Thompson said.
Thompson said she hopes Pelo’s story reminds Madison “how amazing lions are, and how much we want lions to stay in the world.” She added, “We don't speak lion, and he doesn't speak human, but there’re still ways that we can communicate back and forth across that divide.”
