FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A knock sounded on my door disturbing me from the work I was doing, the ever-present bureaucratic bullshit that was said to keep the zoo running, but to my mind seemed more annoyance than necessity, at least regarding what I was doing.

"Kommen sie." I said loudly.

The door opened and Jerry Parker came in and quickly shut the door behind him. He hadn't noticed, but Cleo had raised her head from the old army cot I'd gotten up from the basement of the cathouse and put in my office for her to lounge on when I brought her to work with me. His obliviousness to her was exceptionally short-lived as I watched horror cross his face and he backed tightly against the door.

"Holy Shit, Jim!" He nearly screamed and she growled at him, her body never tensing as her eyes remained on him. I laughed loudly as I swiveled in my chair, "Easy, Cleo. He's alright."

Jerry composed himself some but remained staring at Cleo. This was something one should NEVER do with a big cat, whether familiar with them or not, as it tends to be interpreted as a sign of dominance or aggression. But in this case it was relatively alright since it was Cleo he was staring at, and I figured I knew the reason he was staring.

Even with his staring, Cleo had been looking right at him, or perhaps I should say she looked through him, as was her typical expression, but then she looked at me.

"It's alright, Cleo. Jerry's a friend. Jerry? This is Cleo... she's a new guest of mine and she came to work with me today. She's... a good cat." I nearly said that she was alright, but clearly he could see that wasn't entirely the case. Cleo looked back at Jerry who wasn't pressed with his back against the door anymore, but he clearly wasn't at ease with her.

"Uh, Jim... What's up with her... uh..." Jerry stumbled for the right words.

I chuckled. "She has some brain damage. I'm pretty sure she can see you alright. She just doesn't react like most cats do." I smiled and thought for a moment before adding. "She doesn't ACT like most big cats do, either. But she's a good cat nonetheless." At that I reached over and pet her. She relaxed some and half closed her eyes as I did so. Jerry visibly relaxed and came a couple steps further into the room and plunked down in one of the chairs.

"Scared you shitless, did she?" I inquired. Now it was Jerry's turn to laugh.

"Yeah, Jim. Didn't know you had company and with her having that....." he paused.

"Stare?" I offered.

Jerry nodded. "That stare of hers... Wow, talk about a surprise."

I smiled huge. "Yep, that's just what she was for me, a surprise, from a friend. Was just waiting there at my place Friday night when I pulled in."

He looked curious. "So that's why you were late to work on Saturday, huh? Taking care of your new kitten?" He smirked.

"You have no idea. She's great. And yeah, I was helping her settle in so I didn't come in until opening." I smiled, then my face drooped some.

"Something wrong?" Jerry asked, having noticed my expression.

I furrowed my brow and canted my jaw, pondering. It was a little bit before I spoke. "No, nothing wrong really. I just...." I sighed. "I'd like to tell you all about her and just how special she is... and why she is the way she is, but..." I trailed off.

Jerry looked curious. "But what? It'd put my life in danger knowing?" he joked.

I looked at him deadpan and nodded, frowning. "Yes."

Now it was his turn to look concerned. "No joke, Jim? I mean... how could a lioness with brain damage put my life in danger beyond what she could do to me?"

His question was genuine and unfortunately it trapped me. I couldn't blow him off with some bullshit answer, I owed him better than that. I could just not answer him, but that wouldn't exactly do either, given our friendship. And telling him the whole truth could indeed put his job in jeopardy at the very least, or his very life or the lives of those he holds dear at the most.

I answered in the shortest way I could think of, with a single word. "ReCirq."

Jerry's jaw dropped. He looked to Cleo, who was watching both of us, and then looked to me. "You're shittin' me, right? How....?"

I shook my head. "The less you know about that, the better. In fact, the more people that know she still exists, the more her life is in danger as well as ours. You're my friend so you deserved to hear the truth, or at least enough of it to satisfy your curiosity. For others, she's just a lioness I'd gotten from somewhere and keep as a pet. And that's sort of how it has to remain, for her safety moreso than ours."

Jerry swallowed hard. I was sure it was quite a lot for him to process all at once, but he slowly reached out towards Cleo to pet her. She looked to me.

"It's alright, Cleo. You can let him touch you. He won't hurt you." I said to her.

She nodded and Jerry quickly retracted his arm, then stared at me. "Did she just....?"

I nodded. "Yes, she can understand what I said. Probably most of what we both were saying, too. I can't exactly tell, but... She'd be great at "twenty questions", kind of." I chuckled. "But yes, she does yes and no answers to communicate. There's other quirks as well but that'll be conversation for another time. I'm sure you didn't come in here so quickly just to be amazed by Cleo's antics."

Jerry sat there for awhile while his mind processed the fact that Cleo could understand questions and respond to them in some practical manner, even though her expression never seemed to change nor gave any hint of intelligent life behind those unfocused eyes. For a time I thought perhaps he, too, had been victim to some mental hiccup before he shook his head and said "Wow, Jim. I can't think of any word for it but "Wow". She's lucky you have her, however that happened. And... either you're weird or I'm spaz or something but you seem to have taken to all this a lot easier than I can."

I smiled. "Training. Years of dealing with thousands of us freaky, crazy, weird Homo sapiens. That and I'm a bit more unflappable than most people I've ever dealt with. Something like that or whatever. But... you came here wanting something?" I tried leading him back to the purpose of his presence in my office. He regularly dropped by around closing if he wanted to just chat for a bit before heading home, but the urgency of his entrance led me to think this wasn't just a social call.

Jerry shook his head again as though still in disbelief at Cleo, who, for her part, had laid her head back down on her forepaws and was lightly snoozing behind half-lidded eyes.

"Yeah, Jim. It's Sarah, I.... " He furrowed his brow. "She's been acting oddly and Big John has been following her around pestering her for the past couple days. At first I thought it was just something passive, like she had rolled in some scent he was after, but today they got into a bit of a scuffle over it and she got whacked good a time or two, so I moved her to one of the off-exhibit pens at the back of the dens and... well... I think you better take a look at her."

It wasn't like Jerry to be so cryptic. He did have a habit of trying to verbally dance around sensitive issues, but not to the degree of giving non-answer answers, so this was a bit unusual. "Do I need to call Jim Bridger to come out and take a look at her?" I asked.

Jerry frowned and thought for a moment. "I don't think so, but... I don't know. You've dealt with her longer than I have and... I think I _might_ know what's up, but I don't want to color your perceptions by tipping you off." He chuckled and smiled. "Learned that from you, y'know. Double-check your conclusions by having someone come into a situation with fresh eyes and no preconceptions."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Fair enough. Is there still a phone in the bear dens or would I have to come back here to give Jim a call if I need him?"

Jerry shook his head. "There's an outside line phone there but it's been on the fritz since that water line broke near the Dens last year. You know the one? Between the Dens and the fountain?"

I knew which one he meant. Being as the zoo was put together piece by piece, and not necessarily with the accompanying infrastructure in between, sometimes things were done in a "planned haphazard" manner, in which temporary installations turned out to be far less temporary than originally planned. Such was the way things were when the zoo acquired the old Victorian home for use as office space in concert with the aging office structure of the main entrance gate and gift shop. It allowed all the offices to be in one location, rather than some in various locations strewn about the park, like the ones in the basement of the cathouse. The downside is that the phone system went to hell when there was suddenly two office locations located some distance apart from each other, though they were on the same street. The older of the phone systems all went to the gatehouse structure, and was turned into an internal phone system with a couple connections to outside lines through the switchboard. Typically, that would have meant that the offices in the Victorian home would have been connected to the switchboard in the older office structure, but in the concept that the new, well-decorated offices should be as efficient as possible, the zoo managers convinced the board that there should be a whole new phone system to connect with the new offices and the outside rather than tying it in with the "old fashioned" system already present. That meant that the majority of main locations within the zoo had to have a new phone system installed which then connected to the outside and each other via electronic exchange circuitry rather in the basement of the new offices in the old house.

Since the board of directors at that time was quite strict on expenses, the bid of a local contractor was accepted for the installation of the new phone system. Now the contractor had acutually underbid somewhat, in order to win the contract, and wasn't inclined to do any more work or put in any more materials than absolutely necessary. Thankfully he hadn't screwed with the buildings very much, or any of the enclosures at all. However, the placement of underground lines wasn't directed within the contract as written, and so they went higgledy-piggledy in a maze among the paths and across lawns at the park rather than any but a few making use of the underground utility tunnels, which the old system used exclusively to its advantage. As I'd mentioned previously, all but a few of the buildings have basement access to the tunnels in various ways, whether be a large tunnel like the cathouse and bear dens, or smaller crawl-shafts like the gatehouse and the smaller gazebo. The pavillion gazebo by the carousel has access to a large tunnel through steep stairs beneath the gazebo stairs, which lead first to the storage space beneath our old Philadelphia Toboggan Company wooden carousel before heading onwards to the utility tunnels. If you're very tall you just have to watch out for the lower "pegs" of the movable carousel creatures as it's quite easy to run into one unintentionally, or get clobbered by one from above if the machine is in operation.

At any rate, I frowned. "Still got the old Kellogg one there for the internal phone system? And it works?"

Jerry nodded. "Yep, that one still works like a charm. 19-teens technology wins the day yet again." He winked and we both laughed at his making fun of my historic interests and knowledge.

"Well, that works." I looked at the time. "Or maybe it doesn't. The park closed half an hour ago and I'm sure Jack has the office staff well intimidated to go home on time rather than allowing them to go putzing around late into the night on company time like us."

Jerry looked at the clock and frowned, too. "Well, there's always cellphones, even though the reception is sort of flaky down there."

I nodded in response and got up from my seat. Cleo's head popped up as Jerry got up too, and she looked at me in the manner I'd become accustomed to for her inquiries. "I'm just going with Jerry to see to one of the bears. I can't take you with me as you might scare Sarah, but I'll be back in a while to take you back home with me." She seemed to accept that as an answer, whether she understood it all or not, and laid back down, then rolled about some to get comfortable on the old cot as Jerry headed out through the door with me close behind.

I locked the door behind me and clipped my keys back on my belt. "She can't really understand you, can she? I mean... does she really think like how she seems to? It doesn't seem possible...." Jerry rambled as we walked down the stairs and out across the vacant courtyard behind the now-closed main gates.

"I honestly don't know just how much she comprehends, but I know she does have the ability to understand a lot..." I stopped walking, freezing in place for a second and I turned to look back the way we'd came.

"What is it?" Jerry asked, a little confused at my actions.

"Oh, I was just trying to remember if I left the door to my office washroom open. I think I did, but here I'm in the habit of shutting it, unlike at home." I responded, still trying to think whether I did or not, my brow furrowed and gaze fixed at the door to the stairs. "I'm pretty sure I did." I shrugged and turned around to start towards the bear dens again.

Jerry looked completely confused now and rushed to catch up. "Why would you need to...." then the thought dawned on him. "You mean she.... actually...." His eyes were wide in disbelief as I smiled broadly and nodded.

"Yep, complete with flushing afterwords. Only thing she doesn't do is wipe."

Jerry just shook his head. "You've GOT to be shittin' me."

I, too, shook my head, but for different reasons. "No. Straight-up. She uses the john and even flushes it. And she said she learned that from watching me."

Jerry looked at me for awhile as we walked with an odd expression on his face. "Now I KNOW you're shittin' me. You're saying she can TALK, too?"

I laughed at that. "No, that's not quite what I meant. She only does yes/no answers as far as I can tell, but yes, she did indicate she learned that from me when I asked her. Her first night at my place she watched me take a shit just before we went to bed, and during the night I woke up to find her nowhere around, investigated an unusual sound and found her using the toilet as though it she had been trained to do it. I don't know how long it took but there weren't any wet footprints on the bathroom floor from her slipping or putting a paw in the wrong place. Since I've had her I've only let her out once to do her business outside, but then again she's only been at my place and here. But I'm sure she'd still answer the call of nature outdoors if a toilet wasn't available, and I guess I'd have to make sure it was a private toilet at that, or that'd certainly raise eyebrows." It was my turn to ramble as I unlocked first the barrier gate and later the gray steel access door to the Bear Dens.

Now, the Bear Dens themselves were one of the earliest structurs of the zoo here, and only the outer enclosures have really been changed to any substantial degree. Originally they were just large masonry and steel caves built into the side of one of the existing hills, providing a naturalistic backdrop to the front cages, which at that time were indeed just iron-bar cages with the public face only about 40 feet from the quarried sandstone blocks that made up the front facade of the dens in a rather natural-looking appearance, as though it were just an exposed rock face of the hill... with sort of a corridor carved into it. Even at those earlier days they knew not to have the den's entrance so people could just stare right in, or light pass right into it unobstructed. Through the years the Dens' interior had been changed some, with caging being changed, lighting and environmental controls added, this-and-that throughout the years but the main ceiling and walls had been kept intact, as it'd require a tremendous amount of work to change the dens in any given direction since they'd been not only built into the hill some to start out with, but the roof filled over to make the hill just that much taller as well as making it steeper to provide a natural barrier against people coming into that side of the park, even if they made it over the perimeter wall.

These days, the inside of the Dens had been changed some to appear like it had been original equipment, much like the cathouse, but in a configuration that allows multiple functions within even the same space. Each main display section for the bears still retained its original corridor entrance from the public-view part of the enclosure, but instead of simply one door out to the outside and a single large den space on the inside, there are now multiple den boxes along the outer wall to either side of the corridor entrance. These could be vented to atmosphere to allow the occupant to hibernate over the winter, or can be heated to allow full consciousness all winter long. And as the doors to these den-boxes allow entrance or exit at will, unless intentionally locked for some reason, this allows the bears of any particular enclosure to select whether they want to snooze the winter away or whether they will stay up and play in whatever snow we get. At least that's the theory of it. Many times we keepers have other plans for them, and apart from a couple times when Big John, our male Grizzly, decided to snooze for part of the winter, that function has gone unused for as long as I'd been a zookeeper here.

On the other side of the human-access aisle were the off-display pens. A little under half the size of the main den rooms, there were two pens for each display area, with one treatment and examination area between. This middle section also has a squeeze chute that a bear from either side pen can be routed to for examination and treatment without much fear of the animal being able to lash out at a keeper or veterinarian - containment for ease of conscious treatment. And yes, they did come in handy from time to time, especially when trying to treat injuries one bear inflicts on another.

Sarah, the eldest of our bears, was pacing around a little in one of the pens as we entered. Seeing me and Jerry, she came to the cage wall and grunted a greeting. I put my hand to the bars and let her sniff me, which she did enthusiastically. I'd know her, or perhaps I should say, I'd known OF her, since she was a little cub the size of a labrador retriever. Old Tom Jackson had owned her. Tom was a bachelor and sort of a backwoods... well... weirdo. He'd have fit right in at a buckskinner group, or "mountain men" type festival or whatnot. While he didn't usually wear leather gear like Sully on the old Dr. Quinn show, he did sometimes when it suited him. When I knew him he'd pretty much settled into old overalls, leather work boots, various assortments of t-shirts with holes in various places, and an ever-present greasy-looking ball cap advertizing a local auto parts distributor. I was told that in his younger days he'd been quite the trapper and hunter, and always had some "Critter" as a sort of pet. He'd never married, and his explanation of that was "Why the hell would I need a woman to make my life miserable. The damned government does enough of that to me already." Not that he was anti-government, but he certainly didn't appreciate "them damned city shits" making all sorts of rules and regulations seemingly just to fuck with him. He regularly ignored many of them, not the least of which being the laws against drinking and driving, but also the regulations prohibiting keeping of native wildlife. Since he lived near an indian reservation, he sort of hedged a lot of it by saying whatever critter the game warden was going to confiscate was just being kept there for one or another of the tribal elders from the reservation, and that the warden would get into a lot of trouble if it went missing.

Now that was sort of bullshit and I'd imagine many of the game wardens knew it, but a number of years ago one did try to take off with something, and quicker than cowshit splatters on the ground one of the tribal elders had the Department of Wildlife offices on the phone and they had that warden turn his butt around and give the animal back to old Tom. So somewhere along the line he had some friends in the tribe, or something along those lines. Maybe a couple of the elders appreciated what he did as far as keeping orphaned or injured critters, and I'd wager that a good number of them DID come from the reservation or nearby as Tom never did seem to travel much, at least not when I knew him.

However, time waits for no man, or so the saying goes, and one night Tom went to his reward asleep in his lumpy bed in the two-room dump he called a home for... must have been better than half a century. Sarah was among the animals that he had at that time, and she was just a young grizz sow then, just about ready to start out on her own had she been in the wild. About two years old, or maybe she was three... I don't exactly remember. I had just started working at the zoo then, and while I was a rising star as far as some of the staff about here was concerned, and was doing a lot to help revamp the old place and restore it to its rightful place in the community, the much-older staffers didn't tend to like me very much and as a result I didn't have too much say in what happened with this or that.

However, one of the keepers did like me and my ideas, or saw merit in them at the very least. He was the one in charge of the bears and big cats at that time, before they had anyone as a head keeper over it all, and so when I mentioned Sarah and how she was used to living with humans he was pleased as punch to offer her a place at the zoo. It had been some time since all the bear dens were full, and back then there was only one aged polar bear ambling around the far end of the den row, and that was it. The other two sections had been disused for years. So with just a couple calls for me and him, Sarah was soon in the back of his old Dodge pickup boucing along Highway 51 down to the zoo. Her containment for that trip would be considered a joke today, or probably even back then, but it worked with just wooden stock panels on the sides of the truck bed and a bit of a cattle panel in the back just tacked onto the boards with U staples hammered into place.

I was like a kid in a candy store back then as I fed Sarah some powdered-sugar donuts - one of her favorite snacks - by reaching back from the cab door's window and stuffing my hand and the pastry through the cracks between the boards right behind, all while bouncing down the road at 55 miles an hour. I'd have bet anything old Tom was smiling somewhere at watching that.

Now here we were, years later - she was well past her prime, and I was now head keeper of the whole shooting match. Sarah still knew me and licked my hand before whuffling it again, probably still looking for more powdered-sugar donuts. I reached in and pet her snout. "Sorry, girl. No donuts tonight." She gave a grunt and started pacing a bit. I turned to Jerry. "So... what seems to be the problem with her?" I asked as I watched her amble around. No real motion issues, apart from the undeniable signs of age showing in her gait. No visible abnormalities to her pelt indicating cuts or skin issues. There was the place over her shoulder where she'd found a barbed wire fence years ago, and the fur grows oddly over the scar, but she'd had that for as long as she'd been here. I watched her feet and she seemed to have issue with one hindfoot that I hadn't seen before, as far as I could remember, but it had been awhile since I'd worked with Sarah.

Jerry went to the middle section and opened the gate using his keys. "Brighter in here. I think that'd...." he stopped and smiled.

I finished his sentence for him. "... shed a bit more light on the issue? That's baaad, Jerry." He smiled in response and pulled the levers opening the gates that would let Sarah come directly into the open area of the exam section. True to her nature, she ambled through to greet us with much whuffling up and down.

"Sarah, sit," Jerry instructed. Her rear planted itself on the concrete of the floor. "Sarah, lay down," came the directive. True to years of working, her front lost altitude and soon she was laying on the floor.

Jerry continued, "Sarah, roll back." Grudgingly, she heaved herself over until her belly was exposed with all four legs in the air. I moved over to her side and pet her tummyfur. She grunted happily and her rump waggled some, her stubby tail moving about. That's when I noticed it.

"Sarah, ankles!" I called out, and she grabbed her hindfeet with her forepaws, laying there like some odd child's rocking toy. I looked to Jerry. "Is that what's got you worried?"

Jerry figeted some and nodded. "Ok, so you're seeing what I'm seeing. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

I reached down and cupped Sarah's swollen vulva in my hand. "Sure feels like it, but I'd have to check to make sure. Though this is the absolute wrong time of year for her to be coming into heat. That's supposed to happen around late March to early June, depending on latitude, right?"

Jerry nodded. "Yeah. May or June around here, but this is September and she should be thinking about denning, not fucking."

I furrowed my brow. "You say Big John's been following her around for just the past couple days?" I inquired and Jerry nodded. "Had you noticed this with her before?" I asked. This time Jerry blushed deeply. "Yeah, since mid-April. But Big John didn't pay her no nevermind until just recently."

I canted my jaw and pondered. Jerry didn't know but with all that had been going on the past few weeks with the cats and now with Cleo, I'd not been around to give John his weekly "treatment"s like I had been. That'd account for Big John's change in behavior towards her. Another thought occurred to me, one that went back to when old Tom had her.

"Jerry, have you...." Oh shit. How could I ask something like that without either causing a problem to our friendship or putting Jerry in a very awkward spot? Well... I guess there's only one way to really ask and that's just to say it. Jerry's eyebrows raised and gave me a curous expression at the unfinished inquiry. "Uh, Jerry... have you been... intimate with Sarah?"

I half expected Jerry to explode. He just stood there as though frozen. I was sure I could see smoke coming out his ears, but whether that was from indignant ire or his mind racing to think of an appropriate answer, I didn't know. Sarah managed to save the day by letting loose a resounding fart which echoed loudly through the masonry cavern, causing us both to break out in peals of laughter and readily breaking the tension.

"The question still stands, Jerry." I said calmly as I noogied the chest of the now spread-eagled Sarah, her having released her hindfeet a bit ago. "And don't worry, I know she's quite the sexy mamabear. I've known that far longer than you've worked here."

Jerry breathed a sigh of relief. "I've not... I mean we haven't...." he stammered.

"You've not fucked her but you've thought about it more than a few times?" I offered. He simply nodded. I was fairly sure he wanted to dash off and shave his tongue from the cottonmouth he was suffering at that point.

I continued, "Probably even beat off in the john here thinking about her, likely after working two or three fingers inside her as she rubbed her rump against the bars of the cage? Perhaps she even grabbed you and pulled you into a hug with her on her back, though that scared the shit out of you as you weren't ready for it?" For the second time that day, his jaw dropped. "How do you... I mean, were you watching... us?"

I laughed and shook my head. "Her tricks haven't changed since she was a young cub, Jerry. Her first owner was rumored to have been... intimate with some of the animals he kept as pets, and one of the times Sarah and I were alone the first time, I learned she had learned some things at a very young age indeed."

Jerry looked at me skeptically sideways, then seemed to accept my answer. "So what's the answer? Why's she like this?" he asked.

"Well, quite likely she's got what's called a "persistent follicle". Simple explanation is that she never ovulated this spring and it's just been sort of hanging there in hormonal limbo ever since. Now whether that's because the luteinizing hormone never fired off, wasn't enough in her bloodstream, or she's got some ovarian cysts keeping the follicle from rupturing, that's another question and only an internal exam will answer that, or maybe even it'd require an ultrasound examination. That part I can't say. But it's doubtful injurious to her apart from her being horny and wanting to get laid, but not wanting Big John to do it. Unless her tastes have changed, she still likes keeper attention any time of the year, and if it's just a persistent follicle and I or a vet doesn't rupture it manually, she can stay like this for a good.... long...." I smirked and winked at him "... time."

Jerry looked confused at the wink for a moment before he noticed it too. While I'd been petting Sarah's belly with her rump towards Jerry, the front of his jeans had tented out in what appeared to be a rather uncomfortable manner. He looked at me in horrified embarrassment and I couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry, being a zoophile is quite alright by me. You certainly wouldn't lose your job over it so long as you're not abjectly hurting any of your charges in doing so, and you take... reasonable precautions when necessary. Some critters can contract a lot more problems from us than we can from them, y'know."

I didn't know if he believed me at that point or not, but I guess he decided it didn't matter and he moved to pet Sarah's head, crouching down to do so.

"So are you....?" he started to ask.

"Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies..." I started out, in the same joking manner I did with Jim Bridger all the time when wanting him to help me with something somewhat clandestine. Jerry laughed and I winked. "You know there's a reason Pickles and many of the other animals like me a lot and listen to me better than other keepers. Sarah here, too. And Big John. And others." He looked at me in what can only be described as awe. "And they... let you...."

"Fuck them?" I offered. "Depends on what they're in the mood for and what I'm feeling up to. Or their size, depending on species. Sometimes it's just fingers, sometimes toys - a lot of times it's "toys" of various sorts. Sometimes it's penetrative intercourse. But that all depends. You've met my cougar Peaches, right?"

Jerry shook his head. "You've shown me pictures and video, but I've not met her in person yet. Why?"

I shrugged "Well, she's one of the examples of how it's mostly toys. She can't take me vaginally just yet, and she doesn't mind anal sex, but both of them require a bit of stretching first, and that means working her with dilators until she can take my thickness. She likes the attention, apparently doesn't mind the pain or discomfort of being stretched so big as the graduated dilators do it fairly slowly. And she seems to enjoy the payoff at the end. Pickles does too - enjoy the payoff, that is, but she's been naturally stretched from birthing so many litters of cubs. Peaches I'm still working on with vaginal dilators, but someday relatively soon she'll be ready for our first time of actual intercourse rather than just me stuffing her pooter."

Jerry merely nodded, I guess he was somewhat dumbfounded at finding his sort-of-boss had been doing what he'd never allowed himself to fully do, apart from in his fantasies.

"Does anyone else around here know about... you and.... them?" Jerry managed to croak out, his mouth likely drier than the Sahara.

I shrugged. "I think Jim might strongly suspect it but he's never asked, but as far as here around the zoo itself..." I pondered. "There's probably one or two that kind of suspect it but likely haven't said anything, or it's been laughed off as a bad joke. There's a couple others I suspect are zoos around here, but that's par for the course. And that's also kind of why I hired them, and you for that matter. There's three kinds of zoophiles or bestialists or whatever you want to call it. Three kinds of people who are intimate with animals. One is the kind who is just looking for a hole to fuck, no matter what species. They're the kind of people who would cut a hole in a watermelon to have something to stick their cock into. They don't tend to make good keepers or animal owners because they're just looking for their next fuck. There's the people that think animals are sexual beings too, and do whatever they can - or are willing to do - to keep their animals sexually satisfied. I'm guessing you're on the verge of being one of those people. Intimacy with the animal being just a higher level of bonding and giving them something they can't necessarily give themselves. Those tend to make good keepers and good pet owners. Not necessarily good trainers as many times zoophiles allow their pets to walk all over them and get away with things they really shouldn't do."

Jerry just nodded acknowledgment as he listened. "And the third group?"

I frowned. "The third group are virtually animal rapists. Not only are they looking for a hole to fuck, they're wanting a conquest. Because they usually can't get a human female to comply with whatever they want, or even give them the time of day, they take out their sexual frustrations on animals, many times injuring them or even causing fatal issues in the process. This isn't to be confused with something like cherrypopping a young female animal, but the first penetration of some animal that is somewhat too small for your member can border on this happening. The thing this group is after is inflicting pain to bring about their pleasure, not mutual pleasure like... well... like I strive for. I know I'm bigger than a lot of men so I know penetrative intercourse with me can cause discomfort if not real pain, but apart from a few circumstances the female animals I'm intimate with don't seem to mind the pain after it turns to pleasure. But I also make sure they're relatively free to go at any time rather than continuing to be intimate with me when they don't want to. The animal rapists tend to restrain their animal conquests or beat them into submission and compliance. But that, too, tends to be something that can go either way, as some animals, just like some humans, seem to prefer restraints during intimate acts." I chuckled at Jerry's incredulous look at that latter revelation, as though he did, but yet didn't, believe me.

I nodded to the other part of the bear den. "Honey over there likes being tied to the fence, and Hugo loves being up in the exam table stirrups. I guess his is somewhat a medical kink, too. Or would that be veterinary?" I winked at my own pun.

I guessed Jerry had no idea of what to make of all the unusual information being thrown at him, especially after embarrassing himself by admitting he liked Sarah in a sexual manner. Either way, there she was, horny and waiting. "Jerry, you can mate with her if you like. I'd not hold it against you, nor would I report it to anyone. I only ask that you mark it in the daily reports so I know if something's really going wrong with her if others report things like you just did, or aberrant behaviors."

Jerry just looked at me with a shocked expression. "You're asking me to tell the whole world that "I fucked Sarah on such-and-such a date?!?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "No... but there's a little handle that's been used here and elsewhere for years. I don't typically put it down in the big cats' files as... well, I'm supposed to be the only one having fun with them. Although I could forsee others deciding to cop a feel from time to time as the chances arose."

Jerry looked uncomfortable as I continued. "Now, feeling is one thing, but penetrative intercourse is another. Even though Sarah here can't contract most human STDs, another human could if he had fun with her and your goo was still inside her, or him, or whomever. You understand, right?" Jerry merely nodded. "So, unless you're planning to rubber up each time you have fun with her, which... I can attest to can get somewhat expensive, just make a little notation on the paper file you fill out each day as a report on the animals here. You're familiar with the way to determine the circumference of a circle, right?"

Jerry must have been following what I was saying as suddenly his brow furrowed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

I chuckled. "That's the notation. The formula for finding the circumference of a circle is 2?R, right?"

Jerry nodded, still slightly confused.

"Well, that's the note. Just put the greek character "pi" next to her name. Pi... p.i. .... penetrative intercourse?" I elaborated. I couldn't help but laugh as the realization spread across Jerry's face and he started to laugh as well.

"You and your puns, Jim. Jeez, that one's bad. But I guess it works," he concluded.

"You'd never noticed them on the reports before, have you?" I inquired.

Jerry looked somewhat amused. "Well, yes, but I didn't know what it was meaning, but now I do. Does that mean that...?" he trailed off.

"That most of the animals here are used to being intimate with humans? You got it." I smiled and punctuated the comment with a firm nod.

"Wow... if that ever got out...." he openly pondered.

"We'd all be screwed four ways from Friday. Some more than others. Which is why you can't mention this to anyone, ever. At least without my permission." I confirmed.

"Do Julie and others in the office know?" Jerry inquired, somewhat worriedly.

I shrugged. "I don't know who does or doesn't know about the pi notation anymore. I'd imagine those in the office that do know, don't mind. Or perhaps they're totally in the dark about it. I know Jack is, but that's quite intentional."

Jerry looked curious. "Why... wouldn't Jack know? He's the zoo director, after all."

I chuckled. "Yep, and, if you hadn't noticed, he's the only one above me in the organizational structure. At least as far as day-to-day operations are concerned. That's by design, actually. That's so if something goes to hell in a serious manner here that I'm somewhat insulated from being fired. Although I'm also insulated from that in other ways that even Jack doesn't know. Nor most of the board, I'd wager, if any of them."

Jerry looked puzzled. I just shook my head. "That's another something I won't explain right now. Not because of the issues about things that Cleo has attached to her, but to insulate you socio-politically around here." He frowned a bit but nodded.

"You see, apart from a few of the office staff, grunt-type volunteers, and of course vendors, I'm at the very least consulted about each new hire, be it groundskeepers or animal keepers or... anything. I even knew about Julie before she was hired, and that was back before I was even head keeper. As a result, the majority of people working and volunteering here are... people that really care about animals and many times people that love them, either in a platonic love as one has for siblings, or even an intimate love, as... well... you turned out to have." I rambled.

Jerry looked down at his feet and blushed. "I didn't even know... like.... I'd feel this way. Never in a million years I'd have bet I'd find animals sexually arousing."

I coudln't help but laugh. "Most people do find images of animal sex visually stimulating. Some even allow themselves to fantasize that they are the male or female of matings they've seen. Then comes that step that you've managed to take - allowing themselves to actually touch an animal in a sexual manner. The only step further is to actually be intimate with the animal for pleasure of the animal as well as of the human... or humans."

Jerry looked curious. "Humans? Plural?"

I nodded. "Yes. Some animals don't mind or actually enjoy being sandwiched between two humans in an intimate way. Basically a bestial threesome."

Jerry looked surprised yet again. Sarah, having been laying out on her back as we conversed, grunted to remind us that she was still there. I looked over to her and she gave me a familiar look and gruffed. I looked to Jerry, and he was watching her, too. I moved towards the gate.

"Where are you going? Aren't you going to see if she's got that persistent whatever?" Jerry looked suddenly worried.

I smiled and shook my head. "Not tonight. I've got to get Cleo home, and I wouldn't want to be the odd one out here with you and her. In the storage closet there's a large folded exercise pad, kneel pads, a few folded horse blankets, and a couple large pillows. There's also a bottle of J-lube on the shelf in there, but you're not likely to need that with her right now, as it seems. Anything you get dirty just put in a garbage sack and tuck it in your office, I'll have the laundry take care of it later."

Jerry looked stunned, as though not quite processing what I was saying. "You mean... I can.... right now? I can't! It's... I dunno."

I smiled "Well, if you don't want to do anything like that, just snuggle with her for a night. She loves cuddling, and she'll even let you sleep against her like she were an oversized plush toy. If you do more, that's alright. She likes things missionary-style most of the time, but she has her creative side, too. Just have her lay on her back, use a kneel pad, and if you want to go really deep, just have her put her hindfeet on your shoulders, or just behind them. You'll have to find your own ways with her, as it'll be different from how it's been with me." I winked and let myself out through the gate. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. If she were inclined to clobber you for exploring her, she'd have done so quite some time ago. Oh, and she can give a great blowjob, so just watch out if you sleep in the nude. She learned that from Big John, by the way. At any rate... good luck, and have a good night."

I started off down the corridor but turned around to see the look on Jerry's face as he seemed to have won the lottery as he called out, "Thanks, Jim. I really mean it."

"Just set your cellphone alarm so you wake up before the others come in. You don't want to be caught in a compromising position. See you in the daylight." With that, I closed the steel door behind me and made my way back to my office to collect Cleo and head back home for the night, smiling as that feeling never got old - the feeling that you just gave someone the biggest gift of their life.

Having arrived back at my office, I unlocked the door and Cleo lifted her head from where she had been sleeping on the cot. I sat back down at my desk and checked my schedule for the following day. I figured I'd have time to do a full exam of Sarah tomorrow, and perhaps even have some fun with her myself. Jerry would likely want to watch the exam, and from what I saw in the grizzly bears' section of the Dens, they wouldn't really need a cleaning so the other staff could be easily kept out and assigned other tasks as we worked in there... or played in there. I wasn't really inclined to be an exhibitionist for Jerry, but... Sarah was indeed quite sexy with the way her vulva was swollen, and from the times past she was quite an energetic lover. Maybe she'd even have Jerry worn out enough to have him sleep in his office while I took care of her needs. That would actually work best, but only time would tell with that.

I shut down my office computer for the night and Cleo looked up at me as I rose again from my chair. I then considered her for a time... Hm... I could also check her out as I'd have the ultrasound machine out to do a full check on Sarah... or I could check Cleo first. Hm.. no, Cleo last, as I didn't want her coat full of crud from the ground any moreso than necessary since I didn't want to shave her abdomen so she'd have her tummy fur full of conductive gel to make sure she's actually pregnant.

She mewled and my stare refocused on her and I smiled "Yes, Cleo. I'm thinking about you and your cubs. I was just thinking about checking on them tomorrow to make sure everything is as it should be, since I have to have the equipment out for a lady bear." I didn't know if she understood all that or not, but it didn't matter. "Anyway, you want some Chicken McNuggets, girl?"

She nodded at that and I patted my leg as I stepped towards the door. "Come on, then, let's head home." As I let her out into the hall and locked my office door behind me, I wondered just what was happening down in the bear dens. Oh well, Jerry was a good fellow, and he'd likely tell me much about it tomorrow. Part of me didn't really want to share Sarah with him, but another part of me knew I shouldn't be selfish and that she wouldn't have sex with someone she didn't want to have fun with.

Cleo padded along behind me as I went down the stairs to the employee parking lot and she heaved herself up into the rear seat of my Blazer when I held the door open for her. Whether she knew I was lost in thought or not, I'd never know. But when I caught sight of her in the rearview mirror, her looking back at me, I couldn't help but smile as I realized that I had more than my share of lovers, and that one - Cleo - was likely to be my lover alone, even if given the opportunity to have pleasure from other humans.

Putting those thoughts aside, I started figuring out what I'd need and how I'd have to arrange things to do Sarah's exam the following day as I drove the familiar route through the town to pick up those favored fried chicken chunks for my lounging leonine lover.