‘Why didn’t you show me the lion?’
The forgotten story of Vera Chaplina — the Moscow zookeeper who raised a lion in her communal apartment Vera Chaplina’s archive From the time Vera Chaplina was a child, she cared for all kinds of animals. She started gaining wider attention in 1935, however, when people began seeing her around Moscow with a lion cub she called Kinuli. In 1933, she created the famous “Cubs’ Playground,” where bear cubs, dingo pups, piglets, lion cubs, and baby goats all grew up together.