Hey, it beats being stuck in a zoo with absolutely nothing to do.
Cute, but I don’t think it really holds up to their intentions of using it to train the lions to hunt for prey. Like all cute little cuddly kitties, they see the toy moving around, get startled by it, then curious, then they chase it a little and paw it around a bit, and then when it moves again, they go “AH!” and jump back, and the cycle begins again. It’s very much like what my cat does.
A lion in the wild definitely won’t play like that… they stalk the prey and then it’s pounce and chase! Not bat and sniff!
I know it would cause too much uproar, but why not just turf a few sheep in with the lions? dual duty, kitties get exercise and lunch. How about a cow, then they get to practice group hunting techniques.
Personally? I have no problem with the idea of turfing a real food animal in with the kitties. Life is hunt, chase and kill to eat. I fed live mice to my snakes, and I fed live crickets to some of my spiders.
Looked the same to me, Sad and Deranged. Because the animals were well-fed, they looked a lot more like my housecats playing with a bug (or the gecko that got in the other day) than animals remembering their instinctual desire to hunt. It’s probably a good idea, still, since it’ll help alleviate boredom.