The animal pictured is Jae Jae the Sumatran tiger at London Zoo. The animals there have had a tough time recently after the Zoo Lates, evening parties held inside the Regent’s Park landmark.
Drunken revellers attempted skinny-dipping in the penguin pool, picked a fight with birds and poured beer over a tiger, upsetting the inmates.
So thank goodness a psychoanalyst was on hand last night in the shape of Susie Orbach. She led a calming talk as part of Ruth Padel’s series on endangered animals, about jungles of the mind.
The talk did not go entirely to plan. Something must have stirred in Jae Jae who, showing off, dived into the pool, growled throughout and slunk past the window at important points of the talk.
“I’m perfectly prepared for you to just listen to me and turn your chairs to see him,” Orbach said ever reasonably. “I won’t be offended.”
