There are several men about who seem to glean their self esteem (& in some instances social media followers) from playing with ‘their’ lions, now I don’t doubt that that is a very fulfilling life, I am sure many of us would love to do it, but they also say ‘You can take the lion out of the wild ~ but you can’t take the wild out of the lion’
I have volunteered with big cats rescued from the lion farming industry in South Africa, having been up close, I can verify, they are huge chunks of muscle, claws & teeth. The cats at Panthera Africa Big Cat Sanctuary were rescued by the ladies who unwittingly hand raised them, believing they were orphans & when they found out the truth, they vowed to build a home & rescue all the ones that they could. Now these cats have the best life that they can, given that they can sadly never be free. Although the ladies raised the cat’s, they are operating a ‘true’ sanctuary, strictly no breeding, no trading & NO interaction, even by themselves who raised these cat’s from soon after birth & who love them beyond imagination & whilst I know they have been hand reared, cuddled & walked by tourists, I can tell you, I wouldn’t get in an enclosure with them, there is no doubt in my mind that in the ‘wrong’ set of circumstances they would attack even those that bottle fed them & kept them alive against the odds.
I once again IMPLORE you
DO NOT visit or volunteer at a cub cuddling facility (they aren’t just in South Africa, I have certainly come across some notorious ones in America)
DO NOT walk with lions
AND
DO NOT follow or volunteer with these macho men who interact with their lions, it’s an ego thing & people are paying with their lives, a young woman was killed by one of Kevin Richardsons lions, now this guy, people are getting attacked at lion ‘attractions’ including the little four year old girl who ended up in a coma after a lion caught her by the scalp through a fence !!
THEY ARE WILD ANIMALS
THEY BELONG IN THE WILD
PLEASE RESPECT & ADMIRE THEM FROM AFAR
THEY SHOULD NOT BE MANS POSSESSION OR COMMODITY
The lions who attacked or were in the enclosure where this man died are also now dead
Such a tragic & senseless loss of lives
The Wildlife Volunteer 