If you couldn’t tell, pictured above is the founder of Stoltzfus Meats, Amos Stoltzfus, with a lion cub. Pretty crazy, right? I recently had the chance to get the story behind the photo from Myron Stoltzfus, the current owner of Stoltzfus Meats, who loves to share a good story every once in a while. Here’s how he said it played out:
Once upon a time, Myron’s brothers and his dad, Amos, got it in their heads that it would be fun to own a pet lion. They had a connection with a customer of Stoltzfus Meats who had exotic and wild animals. So they seized the opportunity and bought a lion cub. Myron said, “its’ name was Simba and it was really cute.” However, it didn’t take very long for the family to realize that their house and land was no place for what was going to become a full-size lion. After all, a lion is not a domestic animal. The lion wasn’t with the family for very long before they had to sell it, but it was there long enough for someone to snap an awesome picture and to create a great “tail” (get it?) to share.
Normally, this would be the part where we say “April Fool’s!” But this, my friends, is a true story.