By Meghan Rosen
David Ferrero wasn’t expecting the jaguar to pounce. When he approached the holding pens at Massachusetts’ Stone Zoo, the big cat watched but looked relaxed, lounging on her cage’s concrete floor. Two other jaguars rested in separate cages nearby.
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The jaguars usually prowled outside, in the grassy grounds of the zoo’s enclosure. But this afternoon, zookeepers kept the animals inside so that Ferrero and a colleague could grab a behind-the-scenes peek. Here, the jaguars slept at night — and fed. Here, only metal bars stood between the humans and the cats.
As Ferrero stepped closer to the cages, the watchful female sprang up, twisting her body toward him, front paws thumping the bars. Fully extended, she was as tall as Ferrero.