ARTICLE: Close interaction with captive lions is NOT conservation

The Lion Whisperer Kevin Richardson’s promotion of interacting and walking with lions was seriously called into question recently when one of his lionesses mauled a young woman to death on his farm, Welgedacht, which shares an unfenced border with the Dinokeng, a Big-5 game reserve near Pretoria.

Richardson and a colleague took three lions for a walk in the reserve some weeks back and one of his lionesses apparently chased an impala, eventually encountering the 22-year-old woman two kilometres away.

Richardson has had much to say against the cub-petting and canned lion hunting industry and positions himself a champion against such practices yet conservationists state that his own brand of conservation – unrestrained walking and the close interaction of captive lions – is no different.

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