At the end of this month the MGM Grand is closing their lion exhibit to make room for a revenue-generating feature such as a restaurant or more slot machines.
The man who owns the lions, Keith Evans, plans to turn his lion ranch into a paid attraction. We are sorry to see the habitat closure because it was one of good free things to do on the Strip. Now we have no reason to go the MGM because it becomes just another casino. Before the lions, there was a huge Wizard of Oz display that took up a lot of room, with animatronic characters that woke up for hourly shows. I think they charged to walk through it, but you could see some of it from the fringes.
posted on Jan 6, 2012 3:33 PM ()
Comments:
I am glad the lions have a safe place to go. I was kind of on the fence about that exhibit anyways... I don't really like animals being in captivity and I would never pay to go to a zoo because I Don't want to support them, but I must admit that it was pretty cool to see the lions. I liked the Kong type toys they had.
I worry about the lions. I hope they have a good life.
Oh, I just remembered the lion(s) that were often outside at the MGM, about 30 years ago. When one of them mauled someone.
It's been a number of years since I was there, but I remember the hallway of masks of the movie stars, unless that was the old pre-fire MGM I'm remembering. And these lions inside I saw more recently. Yes, it will lose all distinctiveness without them.