Roaring success of zoo's breeding created an icon
Paul Melia in the Irish Independent, October 27 2012
It's an iconic image known to movie fans across the globe, and the lion that roars at the start of all Metro Goldwyn Meyer (MGM) films is probably from Dublin.
It's not outside the bounds of possibility, as Dublin Zoo had a world-famous breeding programme from the mid-1800s, with hundreds of cubs born and sent abroad to new homes.
The zoo began breeding the cats in the 1850s, with animals brought from Africa. According to historian Catherine De Courcy, author of 'Dublin Zoo, An Illustrated History', some 92 cubs were born between 1857 and 1876, with the animals celebrated for their health and beauty.
The MGM lion was named Slats, and featured from 1924 to 1928. Various reports suggest he was born in Dublin in 1919. The tradition in the zoo was to give Irish-born lions Irish names, and no birth certificate could be found in the records.
But two cubs were born that year -- one remaining in Dublin and named Conn, but the other appears to have been sold and may have found its way on to the silver screen. They wouldn't have been the only ones to attract the interest of Hollywood producers.
In 1947, a Dublin lion, Stephen, was filmed by MGM but there is no record to suggest the film was ever used.
Two years later, the zoo was asked to loan 15 lions to devour Christians for the movie 'Quo Vadas', which was being filmed in Italy, but the request was refused
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