<p><em>By Barry Poole, General Maintenance &amp; Operations Supervisor<br />
and Marie Magnuson, Animal Keeper/Great Cats<br />
Smithsonian's National Zoological Park, Washington, DC</em></p>

<p>In September of 2003 our male African lion (Panthera leo) Tsavo was 15 years old and had been alone for a year after the death of his brother, Tana. Lionesses Kisangali and Lusaka were just getting out of quarantine after arriving at the National Zoo from Wildlife Way Station (Angeles National Forest, CA). We had brought these two beautiful female lions to Washington in the hopes of forming a pride with Tsavo. We were not sure of the girl's ages, but the veterinary staff estimated them to be about 12 or 13 years old. Tsavo had been vasectomized when he was young since he had been housed with his mother.</p>

<p>The introductions went very smoothly and soon the copulating that is integral to forming a pride was taking up most of Tsavo's time and energy.  As a matter of fact, since Tsavo had been vasectomized it was taking up a little too much of his time and energy. The girls were not getting pregnant of course and so they continued to cycle like clockwork. Tsavo's years started to catch up with him. He started to show signs of back trouble, including limping and ataxia, and after only a few months together we had to separate them so we could keep Tsavo inside. His back problems had gotten so severe that the staff veterinarians decided to keep him as quiet as possible and treat his back with steroids. The treatment was extremely successful and Tsavo was going back outside with the now-spayed Lusaka in the spring of 2005. Kisangali had sadly died of an infection during the winter.</p>

<p>Jeanne Minor, a keeper who was working here at that time, suggested that a firehose bed might make Tsavo even more comfortable. Her idea was to weave the fire hose on a sturdy metal frame, much like a lawn chair. Barry Poole from the Metal Shop worked with Jeanne on the design and it has proven hugely successful.</p>

<p>The first thing that Barry did was to "skin" the hose, or remove the outer canvas layer. He used only the inner canvas and rubber layer so that the bed would dry in a reasonable length of time and also to remove bulk from the weaving. The width of the fire hose you have will determine the final dimensions of your bed. The metal frame of Tsavo's bed ended up being 77"x36" [1.95m x .91m]. The woven part is made of six long pieces (warp) of 5&deg;" [13.33cm] hose woven with 14 shorter pieces (weft). After you approximate the length and width of your bed add at least 15% for what is called "take up" by weavers. This is what is lost to the ups and downs of the weaving itself. Then add two to three feet to the length of each piece for loom waste. This will be the part of each piece that wraps around</p>