ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica – Pacing its enclosure, the only lion at the Jamaica Zoo wore a bored expression, indicative of its solitary existence, during a recent OBSERVER ONLINE tour of the Lacovia, St Elizabeth attraction.

However, this will not be the case for much longer because, according to the zoo’s CEO Paul Fearon, the lion will get a roommate upon the arrival of a lioness at the zoo before summer.

“We are about to get a female lion. Because as you know, what you saw him in is just the holding area for them really, because if you look behind you see the big fence, that’s where they roam,” Fearon told our news team, noting that the arrival of the lioness will give the lion a much needed companion.

During the visit, OBSERVER ONLINE noticed neatly kept enclosures for the over 100 animals housed at the location – from spider monkeys seen expertly using their tails to snatch up spilled popcorn on the ground beneath their cages, to crocodiles and turtles lounging in their algae filled pond. The zoo, according to Fearon, is a safe haven for the animals.

But, following the viral incident last May, in which a zoo attendant’s finger was bitten off by the lion at the St Elizabeth-based facility, it begs the question what protocols management has implemented, almost a year later.

WATCH: Visitors stunned after zoo attendant’s finger bitten off by lion at Jamaica Zoo

Fearon said, “First things that you have to is have the proper management in place and as you go along you follow the management plan and see where there is something to be amended, you contact the relevant authority who you proposed your management plan to and you take it from there and our regulators will come in and look at what you are saying. They are the ones who actually decide to say this is ok, no it’s not just up to me.

“We put up signs (that) tell you what type of animals and stuff like that. Some of them weren’t there before,” he added, noting that he has maintained the frequent training of his staff to ensure that they are equipped to adhere to international standards.

Fearon went on to say that following the incident, they saw no need to “put down” the lion, because the apex predator was only responding to the provocations of the attendant.

“In reality you have persons do weird things. Even up to recent times where you have an incident where a person go inside a school and just shoot up the kids and you wonder why that person do such a thing, why that guy put his finger in the lion’s mouth, up to now nobody knows. Looking at the video it just don’t make any sense any at all,” Fearon said.

During the visit, OBSERVER ONLINE witnessed an employee repeatedly walking in front of the lion’s enclosure, with visitors looking in awe when the animal roared at him.

When asked his reasoning for doing this, the employee said, “to make him roar.”

But, when probed about the action of the employee, Fearon said, “Walking in front of the enclosure is something that they have to do based on inspecting the animal and keeping the animal busy, because you don’t want to have the animal lying there bored [and] looking in space… If the lion want to roar is the lion’s business. Once they don’t tease the lion.”

Fearon added that, as part of the zoo’s protocols, over 30 employees have to inspect all the animals numerous times a day to ensure that they are healthy. This, Fearon stated, is in line with international standards.

“They have to do it on a daily basis to ensure that the enclosure is in place properly and not one [or] two times for the day. Because you can look at something now and it is ok, and then down in the day something goes wrong. It’s a standard procedure to inspect the animal to ensure that the animal is in good physical health,” he said.

Fearon also noted that the algae-laden ponds the reptiles and ducks live in are to mimic their natural habitat.

“If you go down to the crocodile pen you notice when you look at it without a fence in front of it and you see like a piece of coconut limb drop in it, that’s the natural habitat. You want the animal to feel like it’s in its habitat. Because when they are in the wild, who cleans that water to make sure they don’t have algae. The algae is very good for you as humans and for the birds (ducks). If you notice they have rocks [to rest] because in the wild that’s what they would do,” he explained.

At the same time, he said his animals are well-fed. The monkeys and other animals are fed every day, while the lion is given fresh meat – beef, goat or pork – every other day.

“Re: international standards we were already in line as to what to do, but things do happen from time to time, even abroad where you see persons – not just employees- but visitors get damaged or get killed by animals [and] different attractions,” Fearon said.