Posted on 02/28/2018 8:53:32 PM PST by marktwain
8:15 'Lion whisperer' reveals how big cat escaped to maul girl, 22
South Africa's "lion whisperer" has admitted he was walking the big cat which mauled a 22-year-old to death.
Conservationist Kevin Richardson has said he is "devastated" by the incident.
In an Instagram post, Mr Richardson revealed he and an "experienced" colleague had taken three lions out for their normal weekly walk on Tuesday morning when things went wrong.
"We assessed the landscape for other big five animals and as per procedure sent out a notification that we were walking in the reserve," he wrote.
"One of the lionesses charged off after an Impala and must have run 2 to 2.5km where she encountered the 22-year-old outside the car.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Big kitty unhappy ending ping.
Describes my grandfather to a "T" - he was magical with animals. By attitude, mannerisms, whatever, he could walk into any situation with an animal and be in immediate control. Every animal just seemed to realize he was the boss and they best get with the program.
It was eaten by the lion.
Not every private facility is some yahoo that wants a tiger as a “pet”. There ARE a number of world-class facilities that started as private owners. Some of them have done groundbreaking research. Good examples include SOS Care near San Diego, and Fossil Rim in Arizona.
Likewise, if ‘private’ ownership is outlawed (as Big Cat Rescue and their fellow travellers would dearly love to see happen), these very same world class (but privately owned, funded and run) facilities will be closed at the same time as roadside shitholes and backyard owners. The publicly-run, AZA-Accredited facilities just don’t have enough enclosure space and resources to maintain genetically viable populations between them. Of course, I (and many others) have been making this very same argument for several decades now, but it simply falls on deaf ears.
Unfortunately, the Animal Rights activists have now mostly won the battle for public hearts and minds, and the paradigm really HAS shifted to a policy of ‘managing to so-called ‘dignified extinction’.
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