Tonight we said goodbye to Roary the lion, he was surrounded in love as he peacefully drew his last breath.  He was truly a wise and majestic soul.  He had been in a lot of pain from bone cancer in his leg, he was ready to say goodbye.  As his soul passed from his body the roars of his siblings and fellow lions at VOTK vibrated the sanctuary, it brought us all to tears.  He came to VOTK in 1996 from a horrific situation in Mississippi.  He lived the last 16 yrs of his life at VOTK, loved and spoiled.  He was in his mid 20's.                                                                                  

 When I first started my volunteer work at VOTK 4 years ago I wrote a story about Roary.  I would like to share that here. Because since that day we had connected, I always made sure I said hello when I passed by. :)  Love & light to you dear friend.

WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT, A LION SAYS HELLO.
I volunteer my Sundays at Valley of the Kings, a big cat sanctuary.
This past Sunday was a particularly grueling day. The weather and conditions were a toss up between ice, slushy snow and bare ground. We use sleds in the winter to make it easier to transport food and garbage ( aka poop & other yuck).
The sleds work great over the snow and ice but not bare ground. I felt like an ox dragging a wagon, heave/ ho, back and forth across the compound . It kicked my butt.

When it is cold and near dusk the lions tend to go inside their enclosures, so it is usually pretty quiet. It was around 5pm, I was walking through the compound to finish a chore when I noticed one of the the Mississippi lions out near his house and staring at me. They have always been an aloof bunch and I have stopped many times to talk to them but I usually got a yawn in response to my chatter.
So of course I was intrigued, I immediately stopped and asked him if he wanted company or to talk. He then promptly walked through the feeding area and came over to where I was standing and stared me right in the eyes, face to face. I was no more than 10 inches away from him. I had no idea how massive he was until he was right in front of me and he was so beautiful it was breathtaking.
He was right next to his dinner but he was not possessive or aggressive in anyway. He continued to look at me, a very content look on his face. He let me know that he just wanted to exchange energy. He knew that I was dragging, as I mentioned above, and he wanted to help. Wow, how cool is that.
******
ROARY, you were beyond cool. Thank you for always being there. Godspeed.