Another cool pic, ethereal_reality!
Reading the Wikipedia article, apparently three lions tried to escape while being transferred between two cages, and in the process the farm manager was killed. One of the lions was killed by getting shot in the head by the trainer, another lion got caught alive just by walking into an open cage and the trainer was able to lock it in, but the third lion got shot in the leg and started menacing a cow, a cage of baby lions and arriving police officers. That third lion finally died in a hail of bullets from the many guns. This incident somehow inspired author James M. Cain to write a short story called "The Baby in the Icebox," which then inspired him to write his novel "The Postman Always Rings Twice," which of course was adapted into the 1946 movie starring John Garfield and Lana Turner. Hehe I'm not sure how a lion dying in a hail of gunfire would inspire a story about a drifter and woman having an affair and conspiring to kill the woman's husband, but according to the Wikipedia article, that's what happened.
In the pic you posted above, if you look at the entrance to the Lion Farm, you can see a statue of a lion. That same statue is now in front of El Monte High School, their mascot being of course, a lion.
From flickr.com