AFTER ‘living alone’ for just over 18 months at the Hope Zoo in Kingston, King Lucas, the African lion that was donated by American Charlie Sammut, finally has a queen.

But Lucas will have to wait a while before being able to enjoy the affections of Jasmine, who arrived at the zoo late last Thursday evening and has been placed in an adjoining enclosure.

“They’ve never known each other… so it’s gonna take them a while to get accustomed to each other and then we’ll decide when and how to introduce them,” Sammut told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

Asked to place a timeline on that decision, Sammut said it “won’t happen for several months”.

Sammut has been described as a modern-day Noah who — driven by his love for animals — founded Wild Things Animal Rental Inc in the late 1980s, after which he invested in a 51-acre property in California in 1994 and named it Vision Quest Ranch.

Sammut donated Lucas to the Hope Zoo in June 2013, a decision that he admitted at the time was tough, given that he had raised the lion from he was a cub.

However, Sammut, who accompanied the then five-year-old 500-pound Lucas on the trip to Jamaica, said he was happy to have made the donation as it would help to improve the zoo.

Yesterday, he told the Sunday Observer that he had started searching for “the right mate” for Lucas shortly after he left Jamaica in 2013. He eventually found Jasmine at a friend’s sanctuary in Colorado.

Asked how he came to the conclusion that Jasmine was the right mate for Lucas, Sammut said: “Well, she had the right size and weight, and a little bit of an attitude, so she’s a bit tougher… it’s less risk that way.”

Sammut said that the five-year-old Jasmine, whose weight he estimated at between 300 and 400 pounds, has been adjusting well to her new home.

“Could she be doing better? Yeah, probably, but she looks healthy, she’s drinking lots of water, she’s starting to eat a little bit more. She’s just not showing any interest in Lucas whatsoever,” he said.

— Vernon Davidson