On Christmas Day, 1997, the White Lion Hope struggled to give birth. Frustrated by the difficult labor, the young lioness abandoned her frail cub. It would fall to Roy to raise the precious life.

"Hope was totally unprepared for the situation," Roy observes. "She was not mature. She didn't know how to care for her cub."

After taking the baby from the birthing area, Roy rushed it to the nursery. "She was ice cold," he remembers. "I heated towels in a microwave to warm her. I was breathing in her mouth to get her breathing." With tender loving care, the cub began to prosper, and that's how this Christmas gift came by her name: Prosperity.

Roy and Prosperity became constant companions, racing at Little Bavaria, roaming the Jungle Palace, even going on fast food runs in the car. The world came to appreciate just how special the cub was when U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada declared her the official mascot of the U.S. Senate on Valentine's Day, 1998.

But the total lack of males Prosperity's age in Nevada forced Roy to make an extremely difficult decision. The choice was plain: the Cincinnati Zoo was already home to two of Siegfried & Roy's male lions, Future and Sunshine. So on August 12, Roy and Prosperity boarded a private Mirage resorts jet and flew to her new home.

Roy still gets emotional when discussing his beloved prosperity. "If you love something the most, you share it. And that's what I did with her."

On his first return visit to Cincinnati, Roy wasn't sure what to expect. But he was overwhelmed by his warm welcome by prosperity, Sunshine and Future. "I'm so happy she's doing well," he muses. "Yet on the other hand, I have to realize I'm only the third man in her life."