Pretty on the Outside

Pretty on the Outside

Chapter 1

~Sixteen Years Earlier~

July 3

"It's time," Ginger, the main keeper for the Black Leopard exhibit, came barging into the lounge of the office building in Canberry Zoo in Colorado. Her light brown hair thrown messily into a bun was coming undone as she bent over, hands placed over her knees as she caught her breath.

Ginger was a nice lady in her mid thirties and has worked at the zoo for eight years; she has been out as lead keeper for the Black Leopards since they purchased their first leopard, Macey.

Macey was an old leopard at the age of twenty but was very lively and full of energy like she was still the ago of three. She was the average size for a female and very good with human contact. You could see clearly the spot on her body in sunlight even though they were still covered by black faded color.

After a month of having her everyone loved her and she was main attraction but Macey start eating a lot more food and gaining a ton of weigh. There was a bulged on her stomach, everyone thought she was sick and ran tests, giving her an ultrasound. When they gave her the test they found an unexpected gift, three little cubs. Which let the vest shocked since leopards usually only had one cub, two if lucky but three cubs from a leopard was very rare and unheard of in captivity or in the wild.

Everyone was excited for new little babies, which meant more business. It's now a few weeks later and the little cubs were coming. Macey started pacing around her enclosure, letting out low growls warning people away.

"Really," the big boss that runs the whole zoo, Mr. Lane, shot up from his seat at his desk and ran to the observation room in the back of the building where computer screens played the footage from the cameras set up in Macey's den. Ginger and the other workers in the building followed Mr. Lane to the back where they watched anxiously as Macey paced the den a bit before circling and settling herself down in the hay covered ground.

Everyone stood and watched as new lives were being born, as minutes passed more people squeezed into the room to watch. By the end of the night there were three new members of the zoo. All the workers were speechless watching Macey nurse her three cubs.

Now with this task down with in the week to come they will remove the cubs to hand raise them so they get used to human contact. When they get too big for the keepers they will be placed in their own enclosure at the zoo for all to see.

~ One Week Later ~

July 10

Ginger, Mr. Lane, and a few more of the faculty including their vet stood outside Macey's den where she was with her cubs, who were crying a lot. Macey was letting out low growls to warn the people away from coming any closer to her babies. Unlocking the cage door everyone peered in to get a glimpse at the blind, small, black cubs crawling around. Macey had her ears pinned back and was baring her teeth, when she saw Ginger she relaxed a bit.

 "Hey Macey, its ok girl we just want to check on your little cubs." Ginger cautiously walked in with her hands raised up to show she wasn't going to hurt her. She had everyone else stay away until she got the cubs away. Macey was great with people, never once attacked. Macey was a bit protective of her food and acted weird; unsettled on nights the moon was full. But with that Ginger was the only one who could come anywhere near Macey so she was voted to retrieve the cubs.

When she got to Macey's side she talked low and sweet, cooing gentle soothing words to her as Ginger stroked the black fur on her side and back. Slowly Ginger lowered her hands as she rubbed Macey's belly where the cubs were resting. Macey just rolled over and let out a low, content growl as Ginger started petting the babies.