I found the lovely marketing photo of Kevin Richardson the “lion whisperer” at quite a few blogs but the original source seems to be the Daily Mail.
The snap reminds me of one of the lions I knew by the name of Zamba
Male lions can be affectionate but can also get into a grump really quickly but check out the lovely photos from the Daily Mail and you can source the original article by GLENYS ROBERTS, too.
The reality of lion instinct and behavior is show in this video where the lion trainer is attacked and the video begins with an assistant in the corner showing the lion clamped onto the trainer’s neck. Contingency plans are critical to mitigation of such events.
Had they had a C02 fire extinguisher or other plans they might have prevented the escalation. Most animal attacks, in this case a lion attack, are the fault of the humans involved–with rare exception.
The lion was not killed humanely and you can hear it vocalizing as it dies–not a palatable video but one to balance out the reality for when you see such coverage as above in the lion whisperer.
On that note, these videos show young animals exhibiting behavior that most trainers would not allow due to the dangers.
You can see how the older lionesses exhibit the same behavior in this video with Kevin Richardson. Most bona fide experts will teach the animals at a young age that they are not to jump and will redirect the behavior into a rubbing or more mundane replacement–called an incompatible behavior.
If you watch the video via the link in this paragraph you’ll hear the camera guy telling the zoo people to hurry up because the video camera has only four minutes left (insensitive schmuck–BTW other countries do not have the same management standards that we do here in the USA) and see the captive lionesses attacking the live donkeys. In case you don’t get why I posted this, the jumping behavior is the same as you see with Kevin Richardson. Also, in all my years I have seen MORE lioness attacks than lion attacks.
In other news, this was a poor choice–a fight between midgets and lions kills 28…you would think it was bogus but it is a BBC source.
Back in early 2001 or 2002 one of the members of the Mountain Lion Response Team took these photos of a mountain lion watching a family through the window.
My point here is to stress that wild animals are not good pets nor are they play things for human enjoyment. They are wild in nature and although you can train them, build relationships with them, the relationship comes with risk and is not the same as the relationships you have with domestic animals that have been selectively breed for life with humans.
