Posted on 11/16/2014 1:50:43 AM PST by Fenhalls555
They are scenes of extraordinary tenderness and trust.
The first photograph shows the controversial moment that a father allowed his 18-month-old daughter to play with a 300lb gorilla.
And the experience seems to have taught the little girl, Tansy Aspinall, a lesson in confidence and courage.
The next picture also shows Tansy, now grown up, and yet again putting her trust in the arms of a massive male primate. This time, though, the embrace is the result of a truly touching reunion.
Tansy is the eldest daughter of maverick conservationist Damian Aspinall, and the gorilla she is cuddling is Djala, one of the animals she played with as a child at Aspinalls Howlett Wild Animal Park in Kent.
During their embrace they rub noses, share kisses and sniff each other in a deep animal ritual. The bond is clearly strong and made even more remarkable by the fact that this was the first time theyd seen each other for 12 years, after Djala was returned to the wild in 2002.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This reminds me of Born Free.
Reckless.
Something about the man who started the zoo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Aspinall_%28zoo_owner%29
This is just the type of false confidence that will cause someone to jump into the tiger cage and get eaten for dinner.
They’ll eventually turn on her and kill her, like all wild animals do. Just ask the Grizzly Man, and those people who have tried to keep chimps as pets.
Gorillas are more predictable than bears, especially since they won’t consider you a tasty treat if they happen to be hungry. And unlike some try to do with chimps, no one is stupid enough to keep them indoors and make pets out of them.
From an obit about the owner:
“But these triumphs were overshadowed by the deaths of five keepers: two killed by the same tigress in 1980; one crushed by an elephant in 1984; another savaged by a tiger in 1994; and the last trampled by an elephant earlier this year. There were also occasional maulings: of the 12-year-old Robin Birley in 1970; of the model Merilyn Lamb in 1969; of a volunteer at Port Lympne in 1994.”
Check out the result of Robin Birley’s mauling by a tiger:
http://www.statemaster.com/wikimir/images/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Rbirley.jpg
To say the least! Just wait until she takes a mate .. jealousy in the animal kingdom is deadly.
Yes; bad parenting. The problem with such animals is that if anything goes wrong (no matter how remote the chance), in the end it is a wild animal; if it tears your limbs off due to a bee sting, who can blame it?
Humans see gorillas as humans. Gorillas see humans as gorillas.
The Bears turned on Grizzly Man because he was annoying .
“He insisted that his keepers should interact closely with all his animals a contentious policy that saw five of them killed during the 1980s and 1990s. “
Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!
Magilla gorilla is amused.
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