America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College threw a party for the campus lion Ira to celebrate his second birthday on Feb. 6.

Zoo Operations Staff and Instructional Lab Technician Mara Rodriguez said 700 to 900 people attended the birthday party. The success of Ira’s first birthday was the stimulus to make it an annual affair, said Rodriguez.

“This event was definitely a crowd pleaser,” said Rodriguez. “Its become a huge event.”

The celebration started at 11 a.m. and went until 5 p.m. At noon and 2 p.m., Exotic Animal Training and Management students and zoo staff put on animal demonstrations, and throughout the day there were crafts and other informative exhibits.

At the “Cake and Crown” ceremony, Ira was presented with presents and his birthday cake, which was made with pigeon wings, ground beef, chicken necks and water. Attendees, holding slices of chocolate cake on yellow plates, gathered around Ira’s cage and sang happy birthday as the lion tore open presents and buried his face in the cake.

Different animals at the zoo also presented gifts for Ira.

“A sheep gave him a ball of wool,” said Cheryl Trejo, a guest who brought her 3-year-old granddaughter to the event.

Kate Wholey, 21, EATM student, said that the EATM students placed different animal furs around Ira’s cage for enrichment and to give him the feeling of hunting as he rolls around in the furs.

Rodriguez said that Ira weighs about 320 pounds now, but will grow to 370 pounds, and recently his mane also started to grow.

“[Ira] has a bit of a Mohawk that has grown on top,” said Rodriguez.

Annika Howland, a 27-year-old EATM student, was one of the volunteers at the event.

“[It’s an] incredible, incredible event,” said Howland. “The only way it could be more perfect is if there was no wind.”

Ira learned to roar last week, and all the neighbors within a five mile radius can hear him, said Rodriguez.

The zoo houses more than just large cats. There is a vulture, a barn owl, monkeys and chimpanzees, reptiles and more. A laughing Kookoburra bird, perched on a branch with his beak pressed to the chicken wire fencing of his cage, might have been trying to get a look at the birthday celebration.

For more fun, “Spring Spectacular” is coming up. There will be shows, food and a kids’ zone on March 19, 20, 26, 27 and April 2 and 3.

America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College is open Saturdays and Sundays, excluding holidays, from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. The zoo offers VIP tours and animal demonstrations. For more information, call the visitor center at (805) 378-1441.