Eyes on the Tiger

Rocky took the stage at 12:30 p.m. Sunday in Cape May Court House to pick a winner in the women's World Cup soccer finals - the U.S. vs. Japan.

No, not that Rocky. This Rocky is the Cape May County Park and Zoo's Siberian tiger and the top cat at the Jersey Shore.

The free Cape May zoo offers vacationers a break from sea and sand, and expects to host 500,000 visitors in 2015, up from 450,000 last year.

On Sunday, parents, children, and assorted strollers pressed up against newly installed, handwoven steel wire mesh - which replaces old-fashioned chain-link fencing - around Rocky's grassy habitat. The crowd let out a roar as the big cat strolled lazily out of his air-conditioned den to two cardboard boxes on a grassy hill - a makeshift feline voting booth, if you will.

Zookeepers had painted one box with the American flag, the other with the Japanese flag.

First, Rocky relieved himself under the trees. Then, the 14-year-old tiger circled. Finally, he licked the red, white, and blue top of the American flag box.

"The choice is clear," zookeeper Kim Simpkins yelled into the microphone. "Rocky picks the U.S.!"

The vote was rigged.

"His favorite scent is Obsession perfume," Simpkins admitted as she watched from behind Rocky's den. She and other trainers sprayed the American box with, well, Rocky's obsession. The Japanese box, however, reeked of goat urine.

"He likes the scent of freedom," joked Bill MacQueen, executive director of the Cape May County Zoological Society, a nonprofit fund-raising group.

Rocky's new, nearly invisible enclosure allows humans to get closer, and is part of larger upgrades underway at the 85-acre zoo.

Improvements include a new 2,500-square-foot enclosure and maternity den for the snow leopards, also Jersey Shore favorites. (Footage of white fuzzy cubs meowing into a camera went viral online.)

"We're in the midst of a capital campaign to raise about $2.5 million for upgrades, including the new fencing and holding facilities for the primates," MacQueen said. "Yes, that means a new monkey house."

But the big upgrades favor the carnivores. Mama snow leopard Himani, 12, gave birth to seven cubs here between 2010 and 2013. Her mate, Vijay, passed away last year. "She missed him for a while, but we're getting two new snow leopards soon, one from the Bronx and another from Wichita, Kan.," said Alex Ernst, Cape May County Zoo's veterinarian.

Brother and sister lions Bella and Lex were celebrating their fourth birthday on Sunday, but couldn't be bothered to get up out of the shade. The siblings recently moved here from Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township.

The Cape May County Zoo insists on a naturalistic setting, rather than a theme park with cages, so the multi-acre savanna features free-range giraffes and zebras grazing in fields. Of the 2,500 zoos in the United States, only about 200 are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums - and Cape May County Park and Zoo is one, MacQueen said.

"The standards are very stringent, and the accreditation allows the zoo to share animals with others across the country," he said.

Among other zoo trends? Mixing species in nearby enclosures, creating movement between habitats, as has happened at the Philadelphia Zoo; and the flexible steel wire mesh for a closer experience between creatures and humans.

Cape May County Zoo also sports a rock-climbing wall, a carousel, and farm animals such as a popular Holstein cow named Jilly.

The Cape May zoo houses flamingos from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch and two bald eagles. But Rocky is the powerhouse draw.

Between 400 and 500 pounds, Rocky sports his winter fur, which he still hasn't shed, but he's in good health after surviving cancer last year.

Veterinarians treated him for soft tissue sarcoma with chemotherapy and three surgeries, according to Ernst.

"He's still a rock star," Simpkins said.