A Tale of Two Lion Kitties
Once upon a time there were two little lion cubs in Spain. They had been taken from their loving mother when they were only a few days’ young, by a seemingly-kind Human. This Human fed them only on milk, even as they got older, and never hugged them or cuddled them. The Human advertised the lion cubs to People who wanted their photograph taken with them. Those People paid lots of money to have their photos taken with the babies, even when the cubs were very tired, and even when just wanted to stay under a warm blanket they were dragged out to be pawed and touched and passed around; the People were noisy, shouting and laughing. The cubs didn’t like that at all. Why couldn’t they just go back to Mum?
Because they were fed only cow’s milk, the cubs didn’t grow properly. And they were always feeling hungry – they wanted meat! They didn’t feel well; they were getting seriously ill.....
The end.
Not quite, fortunately. One day an organisation called “Campaign against Canned Hunting” (CACH) in South Africa heard about these cubs in Spain, and asked their volunteers there to look into the situation. Those volunteers acted very quickly, and got the cubs away from the Human, and to experienced wildlife veterinarians. The cubs were put onto medication, antibiotics, and were slowly introduced to a new, better, diet. And they thrived quickly! Within a few weeks they had doubled their weight! Good news indeed.
And the good news doesn’t end there either. Because never again will those cubs have to experience anything like they did in their first months – CACH are currently raising funds to bring them from Spain to South Africa, where Kevin Richardson has offered them a life of peace at his sanctuary near Cullinan near Pretoria. Richardson, known worldwide as The Lion Whisperer for his awe-inspiring interaction with lions as well as hyenas over many years, is an animal behaviourist. He never hesitated when CACH sent him information on the cubs. They will never be able to go back into the wild, as they have been handled by humans from birth and have never been taught how to “be lions”, but at Richardson’s sanctuary they will live in a large enclosure where they will not be “bothered” by People but left much to their own devices, albeit getting their food delivered to them without having to hunt for it themselves – again, this is not something they have ever been taught how to do.
So once upon a time......two little lion cubs were nearly in a lot of trouble and doomed to a short life of malnutrition and confusion. But sometimes fairytales are real, and sometimes they have happy endings.
For more information, and to keep following the cubs’ story, go to www.cannedlion.org. For more information on Kevin Richardson and his sanctuary, go to www.lionwhisperer.co.za.
