"Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness," the popular true-crime Netflix documentary about the bizarre world of big-cat owners, has captured the attention of the stay-at-home public since its March debut.

But chew on this: There once was a 350-pound lioness named Bunji that lived in a single-family home in a Newport neighborhood off Maryland Avenue.

The Lion of Richardson Park sounds like an urban legend, but an exotic animal really did once occupy a two-bedroom, 1,025-square-foot house near Banning Park in the early 1970s and 1980s.

Seriously.

There's even a Facebook page, "I remember the lion that lived in Richardson Park," devoted to memories of the Delaware big cat.

The group, created in 2010, has been quiet for the past three years. It recently has been gaining renewed interest likely due to "Tiger King" on Netflix.

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Bunji was perhaps best known for making neighbors quake with her loud roar – often early in the morning, and sometimes in the early evening.

"When I was little I used to think this was a myth, until I got a job as a mail carrier in Newport. I could hear it roar from blocks away," Michelle Maguire wrote in a 2010 Facebook post.

Jeff Flanagan said he grew up in a house right behind Bunji's home.

"Whenever someone walked out of my garage, Bunji would roar at us," Flanagan wrote in 2010. "Never really thought it was that odd back then to have a lion as a neighbor, but now that I think about it, I guess it was."

Several Facebook commenters say they remember neighborhood children often dared each other to approach the yellow house at the corner of Matthes Avenue and Mary Street. They would run away screaming or tease Bunji when she appeared at the door or window.

A neighbor once told The News Journal she liked having Bunji living across the street from her Richardson Park home because "it's a great conversation piece." She added the lion served as an alarm clock.

"She roars and I know it's 7 o'clock."

So, how did a lion come to live in a New Castle County suburban neighborhood?

The lonesome lion was a pet of the late Norman H. Taylor Jr., an avid outdoorsman and environmentalist, and his former wife Mary.

Norman Taylor was the great-grandson of Artesian Water Co. founder Aaron K. Taylor and the brother of current President and CEO Dian C. Taylor.

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The first article about Bunji appeared in The Morning News in November 1970. Taylor brought his then 4-month-old lioness to Centreville veterinarian William F. Butler Jr. for some booster shots. Bunji, who was on chain leash, happily rolled on the floor.

Taylor said he purchased the lioness from an animal importer in New Jersey. Bunji spent most of her time at his business Bowers Auto Parts at 601 S. Market St. There, he had a sign on the fence that read "Trespassers will be eaten."

Bunji moved to Richardson Park by 1971. The lioness, who was declawed, was perfectly tame, Taylor told The News Journal in an interview. She liked to look at children – but not eat them, he said.

Taylor installed bars on the house windows and reinforced doors so Bunji couldn't escape. She never left the house without her owners, he said.

On the Facebook page, "I remember the lion that lived in Richardson Park," visitors recall Norman and Mary Taylor walking Bunji on a chain until she became too big to handle.

Others say the trio were regular visitors to the old Pleasant Hill Drive-In in Newport. One person wrote the lion "startled many a couple making out in their cars." The drive-in closed in the mid 1980s.

Bunji wasn't a raw meat-eater. Taylor said she liked her 4 pounds of hamburger slightly cooked.

Bunji caused a neighborhood stir in September 1982 when the then-13-year-old lion pushed out the screen and bars of a window of the house and peered out the window.

The lion didn't do anything but attract a crowd of gawkers, which included New Castle County police and the SPCA.

Oddly enough, police and animal control left the scene and let the curious cat stay in the home because the animal made no attempt to flee. But this was an era when some people still didn't give a second thought to getting into cars without buckling up.

And, at that time, there were no laws about owning wild or exotic animals in a neighborhood.

Now in New Castle County, exotic animals are prohibited on any parcel of land that is in a residential district and less than 1 acre in total. It also is unlawful for any owner, tenant or other person in control of a property to raise, breed, keep, shelter or harbor exotic and wild animals.

Taylor once told The News Journal raising a lion was "worse than having a kid, because you can't find babysitters." He said Bunji got exercise on a farm off Porter Road in Bear.

The lion lived for more than 20 years in Richardson Park until her death in the 1980s.

When Taylor died in December 2007, Bunji was mentioned in his obituary.

"Norman will be remembered for his great love of animals, including his pet lion," the notice read.

Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico.