• become a Zoo member
• make a donation
• become a Zoo volunteer
• be an educated voter
• make your purchase count
• travel with the Zoo

Take Action

Get "Green"

Pesticide-free grass means a "greener" lawn for you and for wildlife. More >

Vote to Save Them

Human-wildlife conflict is taking a toll on the world's great cats and rare canines. More >

Join the Club

If you're a kid that likes animals, or you know one, this is for you.
More >

Lourene Nevels is president of the Philadelphia Zoo's Docent Council, a group of almost 200 dedicated, highly trained volunteers who teach Zoo visitors about wildlife. Her favorite Zoo animal is the giant otter, but lucky for lions, Lourene doesn't play favorites.

In 1982 Lourene took her second trip to Africa, which also happened to be her honeymoon. Among the many memorable moments of her journey were several incredible sightings of adult lions and their cubs. On the third day however, while out on a morning game drive, Lourene was awestruck by the power of nature as she watched from her vehicle while a pride of 5 lions devoured a kill not more than 15 yards away.

Later that same day, on a group visit to a local village, Lourene was unexpectedly pulled aside and invited into the home of a Maasai woman. Honored, she followed the young woman though the opening of the boma safeguarding her livestock and into a traditional mud (dung) hut devoid of furniture save for a three-legged head rest easily mistaken for a miniature footstool by the untrained Western eye. The woman was able to speak some English and managed to negotiate a trade, her bracelet for Lourene's ball point pen. She was learning to write and had noticed Lourene's Bic.

As she lunched with Dr. Laurence Frank, project director for the Laikipia Predator Project, twenty-three years later at a Philadelphia restaurant, Lourene was reminded of her time in Africa. Dr. Frank had been invited to speak at the Docent Fall Meeting about his work with lions, supported in part by the Philadelphia Zoo, and was talking with Lourene about supplemental funding needed to complete an educational video. The video, Dr. Frank explained, would be used to educate local communities about the value of lions to their culture and would show them how they can protect their livestock without killing lions, a central focus of his project. Lourene again agreed to an exchange, this time Docent Council funding for a chance to help a community save a species.

Page 1 of 2 >