“First Blood” is episode one of season one of Zoo.
The series starts in Botswana. It’s evening and a man is out with his dog. The dog seems concerned about something, but the man says that there’s nothing there and they head back to camp. A narration asks what if animals finally decided that they’ve had enough of how man treats them, and decided to fight back.
The next day at Kituko Safari Camp the trucks are being got ready, as a party is going to see some rhinos. A boy, Daniel, is watching a video shot by the late father of Jackson Oz, who is at the camp. Jackson’s father has theories regarding animals and extinction-level events that his son considers to be crazy. Jackson’s friend Abraham wants to fly out to another camp later; said camp’s radio is on the blink and they haven’t been heard from in two days. When the party comes across the rhinos, there is another party there, with a man who has paid a lot of money to hunt one. So Jackson and Abraham scare the rhino off before it can be shot.
In Los Angeles it’s dark and two men are relieving themselves in the street when one hears a growl. He looks up and sees an angry-looking male lion. Lions are not commonly seen on the streets of LA. Said lion jumps down to attack. People can easily stop lions – with suitable weapons. Without them, not so much. Lions had escaped from the zoo, after killing their trainer, and killed two more people. A journalist, Jamie Campbell, working on the story gets fired, as she posts on a blog that is less than complimentary to a company associated with one that owns the paper. She believes that the company that provided the animal feed is responsible. A veterinary pathologist is looking into what caused the animals to attack.
The camp in Botswana that had fallen out of touch seems abandoned, and even with the safari vehicles out, some staff should still be present. It also appears that the place has been abandoned in a hurry. The radio is working fins and Jackson finds a video camera, which shows the camp being attacked and people running screaming. What attacked is not clear from the video, but there are tracks from a lion as well. A single lion would not scare everyone off. Jackson has a theory regarding that sounds crazy. The lions, when discovered, are not acting normally.
The lions in LA and in Africa are the first to attack, but domestic cats are also disappearing in an LA neighbourhood. The lions are simply the first sign and Professor Robert Oz’s ideas may not be as crazy as they sound.