{"id":218615,"date":"2010-01-20T17:28:10","date_gmt":"2010-01-20T22:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef012876f76aff970c"},"modified":"2010-01-20T17:30:12","modified_gmt":"2010-01-20T22:30:12","slug":"remembering-an-unlikely-lothario-frasier-the-sensuous-lion-captivated-1970s-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/218615","title":{"rendered":"Remembering an unlikely Lothario: Frasier the Sensuous Lion captivated 1970s America"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a now-defunct animal preserve in Laguna Hills, a lion named Frasier became a star when word spread of his virility. After spending most of his life in a circus, lazy, tongue-lolling Frasier went on to father about 35 cubs. "In a time of disenchantment over the Vietnam War, [he] was a pleasant distraction — he wanted only to make love," columnist Steve Harvey writes of the legendary beast. Harvey has the details on Frasier’s life and loves in his most recent column; here’s an excerpt:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Frasier<\/img> He "hobbled about on weakened legs, his once-lustrous coat was scruffy and his tongue sagged from a toothless mouth," The Times reported.<\/p>\n

When Lion Country bought him from a bankrupt Mexican circus in 1970, he was believed to be 18, equivalent to about 80 human years.<\/p>\n

Lion Country, then one of a chain of drive-through animal preserves, put the underweight cat on a special diet, and he gained 100 pounds.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, the park was having trouble finding a suitable male companion "for a pride of half a dozen healthy females," The Times said.<\/p>\n

The lionesses had previously been introduced to five strong young males but "rejected each one, often using physical violence." <\/p>\n

So, as "a sort of joke," Frasier was allowed to make their acquaintance.<\/p>\n

By "the very next morning," The Times’ Gordon Grant reported with admirable restraint, "it was obvious that Frasier had the situation in hand.<\/p>\n

"His wives were content."<\/p>\n

THERE’S MORE; READ THE REST<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo: Frasier in 1972. Credit: Associated Press<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a now-defunct animal preserve in Laguna Hills, a lion named Frasier became a star when word spread of his virility. After spending most of his life in a circus, lazy, tongue-lolling Frasier went on to father about 35 cubs. "In a time of disenchantment over the Vietnam War, [he] was a pleasant distraction — […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}