This lioness is the only lion at the LA Zoo at the zoo currently (as of September 2011). Her male companion died earlier this year. She is quite elderly and her exhibit is very old and inadequate. I cannot see LA Zoo getting more lions until they build a decent lion exhibit.
There were plans to build a new lion exhibit. There is conceptual art work floating around for a new LA lion exhibit and mstickmanp posted it on an earlier thread: http://www.pjarchitects.com/Projects/projectsOS.html#
This was never announced as a future exhibit so it most likely got put on the back burner while the zoo completes building the exhibits that it currently has funding for from a 1998 bond measure. The new reptile-invertebrate house and Rainforest of the Americas are currently being built and will likely take several years (to 2014?) to complete.
Who knows when the economy will allow for new exhibits? Hopefully by then reality will allow for successful fundraising for a new round of exhibits. The LA Zoo really needs new lion, giraffe, and hippo exhibits, among other things.
Yes, it is very small and not at all well designed. There is a large moat that takes up more space than the land itself. It may be adequate for a small animal, but not lions.
This is an interesting idea, but given the relatively small size of the exhibit to begin with would that make it big enough for a pride of lions?
I'd really love to see the LA Zoo work with some more medium size predator species. They used to have a wolverine. Something like a wolverine, honey badger, or bush dogs would work great if this exhibit were modified as you suggest.
