NotebookIdea of the Week: Living with Lions for a Month.
Jim Jablon has owned a wildlife center in Florida for awhile. His center recently fell on hard times—who hasn't, really?—and so Jablon decided, by some logic I don't fully grasp and probably never will, to spend the month of January with two full-grown lions to bring attention to his center's lack of funds.
I know times are tough, but man, there are other fundraisers. Like, I don't know, car washes and bake sales and raffles.
Says the story:
It seemed like a clever idea at first, [Jablon] joked during an interview, but after the first four days he's not so sure.
You don't say?
Is there really any way this guy survives? I mean, a whole month? Just look at this quote from the source story:
"I can handle them even though they weigh 225-250 pounds, but once they get going and they realize it's two-against-one, I usually end up on my back."
"I can handle them"? I CAN HANDLE THEM? I can handle the 225-pound beasts, but ONLY until they REALIZE it's TWO-AGAINST-ONE? Never mind that they also realize they are TWO HUNDRED FIFTY POUND FLESH-EATING BEASTS.
Just look at this picture:
"I'm still a toy to them," Jablon also says.
HAHAHAHAHAHA. You don't say? The 150-pound human man is a TOY to the TWO HUNDRED FIFTY POUND FLESH-EATING BEASTS? You know what else is like a toy to comparatively massive beasts? Mice, to cats. They bat them around. Like toys. Just before they eat them and then toss their carcasses at their owners' doorsteps as a present.
Oh, wait, just noticed one more tasty* little nugget* from the source story:
He eats when his lions eat, which is once a day. They're each fed 10-12 pounds of chicken and steak ...
* Puns!
Clearly, Jablon's a man unlike any man I'll ever be. I truly hope he survives, or else I'm going to feel really bad about this post.
And for the record, I love lions. I've been to zoos. And I wouldn't even mind touring the plains of the African sahara one day, and even being able to say that I saw a lion in person without a cage between us. But that's going to be from 300 yards, with a scope. Thanks, but I'm never getting within range so they can treat me like "a toy."
Jablon believes in something so much that he's making himself look insane while quite literally throwing himself at the mercy of lions. That's believing in something.
I don't mean that we literally have to put our lives at risk. But the way we live day-to-day is an investment of our lives. What are we investing in? If it's nothing, then, like Jablon, we are putting our lives at risk. We are risking losing everything, because we are going after nothing.
What do you think? Of Jablon? Of what you're investing in? Of those old Guinness commercials?
(via)
P.S. Since we're talking people and lions, remember this video? I'll take any excuse to watch it again:
Reader Comments (4)
I miss the old Guinness commercials.
Are they feeding the Lions??
If not... that would be a true test of survival.
P.S. You are obsessed with that video... I know it's good, but man :)
Yeah, they're feeding the lions 10-12 pounds of meat a day, as always. But still ... dude's ballsy. Or nuts. One of the two. I can't decide which.
And who wouldn't be obsessed with that video? It's beautiful.
oops. I guess I should read your posts all the way through before asking dumb questions that have already been answered.