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I was volunteering for Zoobilee, which was an event where you only pay one dollar to get into the zoo. When I arrived for my voluntary shift at the zoo, I was placed in the lion, tiger, and jaguar section. I was to make sure that nobody taunted animals, fed them, or climb over the wooden fence. The lioness was not fond of too many people being around her. She had recently lost her mate. She was hiding in the building part of her cage, where nobody could see her. It was lunch time, when there were only a few visitors that weren't having lunch. The lioness peeked out of her building and finally came through. She walked up on her little perch and laid down. I watched her for a little bit, noticing her lamentation to the world for her lost mate. People started to come as they finished up. She started getting uncomfortable. She kept looking around at everyone watching her, cooing because they got to see her. Someone had a camera with a bright flash. The tourist flashed the camera, unknowing that it was on flash, and startled the feline. At first, she looked scared, but the she growled at him. I asked the tourist to turn the camera off of flash. From then on, the lioness was more vicious and growled at about everyone. I still heard the pain throughout her cries.
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