Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Leopards were the most difficult of all the big cats to manage.All the animals here were wild—and dangerous,of course—but funnily enough,lions and tigers,though much larger,were easier to handle.You can read lion and tiger facial expressions pretty easily and gauge their body language to get a sense of what they might do.Leopards and jaguars were harder;their faces weren’t as animated as the other big cats and worse—they planned ahead.I’d seen a pair of leopards work together once to grab a domestic cat who had wandered into their cage.One of them stalked it from behind;the second deliberately jumped against the fencing,ricocheted off and chased the housecat into its partner’s claws.The smartest of the big cats.That made them the scariest.

“Do you need help to get the holding pens ready?I can stick around after my shift.”