Man cuddles lion?
 

"Animal behaviourist Kevin Richardson has such an intimate bond with big cats that he can spend the night curled up with them without the slightest fear of attack."

Complete article, with some startling (to me) photos, at http://tinyurl.com/2ld3pa

Anyone know what this is all about?

I am speechless. Heard of dog whisperer and horse whisperer, but never a lion whisperer. Is this for real? Maybe it's a lion encounter program of some sort??

He's obviously good at reading their body language. Many hand-raised cats are this friendly with people they know & trust. I still handle one adult male leopard at the zoo I volunteer at, although I don't wrestle with him like this guy does with the lions!

nancy

Kevin Richardson is obviously aware that there are no known instances of a "domesticated" predator turning and harming its trainer. Was it Sigfried or Roy that forgot that?

Napoleon the male lion is indeed at Johannesburg Lion Park.

There was a Channel 5 (in the UK) programme on two weeks ago when the presenter went to see the big five cats up close. He met lions at Johannesburg Lion Park (including Napoleon) and Kruger. I've got to say Napoleon was a tad grumpy...

For leopards he went to Londolozi - the first time I've seen British TV there.

Kevin Richardson...wasn't he in a programme about raising hyena pups? He had also become an established part of the hyena clan at Johannesburg Lion Park.

There was recently a show on about a guy who lived with a pack of wolves like this in some U.K. zoo.

These are social animals and it says he has to know them at under a year of age so he becomes a known part of their society when they are harmless. If he came and tried to 'whisper' his way into a wild pride it would almost certainly be short lived although they would probably just run away and never let him get close. If he continued to push it would be curtains for him.

For a good book about a man who spent years living with lions I suggest George Adamson's "My Pride and Joy". He and his wife Joy raised cubs (he shot the cubs' mother while on duty as a game ranger in Kenya's NFD) and Joy's book about raising these cubs became the best-seller "Born Free", which was also made into a popular movie.

George subsequently raised or rehabilitated several more lions and in this book has several pics of the lions sleeping in his bed, etc. But unlike Kevin Richardson he never felt he could do it "without the slightest fear of attack."

In the book he says he always took a firearm when walking with them. Once one of the lions grabbed him and then bit down and George had to work his pistol free and shoot the lion in the head to get it to drop him. Lion was OK (the bullet just grazed him) but George spent a week in the hospital. He was mauled a second time too by a different 'tame' lion. Basically everyone who worked with him (Joy, his brother, assistant Tony) were each mauled at least once and hospitalized, and one of the lions killed one of his staff members.

During filming of "Born Free" both the actor and actress playing the Adamson's were injured by lions, though not seriously.

This is a fascinating book and I'm sure George got away with more than Kevin Richardson, but these are still powerful wild animals who could turn on you in a second.

Bill

Having worked with exotic animals for 11 years, I always find articles such as these disturbing. I am sure that he is a true animal lover, but I am always afraid that this type of article will send the wrong message out to the public. Those who don't understand wild animals may feel that they would make good "pets". Not good for the animals. Exotic animals are wild and no matter how much they are handled will always have the instinct and capability to hurt or kill you.

Ndonna,
That's a very good point.
I read recently (don't know if it's true) that there are more tigers living as pets in the USA than there are in the entire population in the wild!

Yes, I agree ndonna. It wasn't clear at all to me from the article whether Richardson had himself gone into the wil and was living with animals there. or whether it was the resticted type of area where he apparently does his thing.

Thanks for the link...very interesting!!!

Kavey-

The animal rights groups would have you believe there are 10,000 pet tigers in the US but they are lying as usual. A more correct statement is there are more tigers in captivity in the US than live in the wild. That includes zoos, sanctuaries, and privately owned animals.

I found these on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsWHvdTye5g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHk43wyk9cM

Wildcatzoo
I don't read the crap extreme animal rights groups put out, so no, it wasn't on of those websites which talks rubbish and can't be trusted. And it was very specifically talking about tigers kept in homes as pets, not those kept in captivity in zoos or breeding centres.

I remember talking about this on another thread somewhere. Not including zoos and rescue sanctuaries, there are more tigers kept as pets or in atrocious conditions than in the wild. Here's what I found on tigers in captivity from two well-respected orgs.

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/tiger.htm

"...Today, sadly, there are more tigers in captivity then exist in the wild. There are only 500 Siberian tigers left in the wild and less than 400 Sumatran Tigers as of 2006. There are thought to be more than 10,000 tigers in cages and 90% of them are in miserable roadside zoos, backyard breeder facilities, circus wagons and pet homes."

And from National Geographic:

http://tinyurl.com/2myv4e

"As many as 15,000 exotic big cats may be living in neighborhoods and roadside zoos in the United States. In fact, the country may have more pet tigers than there are estimated to be remaining in their wild habitats in Asia, according to research done for the National Geographic Ultimate Explorer television documentary America's Big Cats in Crisis."

:'(

Unfortunately bigcatrescue.org has turned into an animal rights group from the pet breeder/rescue facility they started out as. They used to have a very scary 20-year plan on their web site in which they wanted to eliminate ALL captive wild animals in the next 20 years. They've since taken it down but it can still be found elsewhere on the web.

All these places are quoting the same made up number. There is NO evidence of 10,000 tigers in the US. There are 4-5 large rescue places with 100+ tigers. All the larger rescue places have web site to help raise money. No zoos have more than 10. Private owners generally have less than 10. There is just NO evidence to support the 10,000 number.

More likely it started as 10,000 captive wild cats (including ALL species) and somehow morphed into 10,000 tigers. And if there are 10,000 tigers there must be 15,000 "big cats", etc.

I found this in a published article:

"An estimated 8,977 big cats are showing to be held in captivity within the United States of America.

Included within the dynamic model are an estimated 1,587 big cats within AZA Accredited Zoo's of which approximately 264 are tigers.

An estimated 2,126 big cats are located within sanctuaries (mission oriented facilities) of which a projected 1,179 are tigers.

An additional 2,120 tigers are located within USDA licensed facilities with primary missions of either breeding or exhibiting with this total big cat population representing 3,434.

Thus leaving 1,129 tigers living among private collections (non-mission oriented homes) or 1,830 big cat populations among the private owners.

Of the U.S. captive big cat population an estimated 4,692 Tigers exist."

Send Mr. Richardson a copy of the movie GRIZZLY MAN.

And yes I know the circumstances are difference. But I will never believe any large-scale predator is truly "domesticated".

wildcatzoo-
That is an interesting article, for sure.
What publication did it appear in?

waynehazel- i agree, I would never get that vulnerable with a big cat. Did you watch the video, there was also a leopard loose in the same enclosure. Crazy!

divewop- the Feline Conservation Federation magazine. I think you can find back issues on their website, thefcf.com

nancy