Lion Aid Hugging lions or conserving lions? A recent article in the Daily Mail with the title “The lioness who hugs hoodies: Amazing pictures of abandoned big cat and her heartwarming bond with men who saved her” has made the rounds. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2487102/Fancy-cuddle-Lioness-develops-incredible-heart-warming-bond-conservationists-rescued-abandoned-pride.html It refers to “conservationists” Valentin Gruener and Mikkel Legarth “saving lion populations” in Botswana. It is a feel good article about them having formed a special bond with a lioness they rescued as a cub as she was “abandoned by her pride”. The lioness, named Sirga, is supposed to be “returned” to the wild at some point, even though she is highly used to humans – Gruener and Legarth say they only allow Sirga to interact with them and nobody else. That is clearly not true as there are numbers of photos from past “volunteers” at Modisa all interacting with Sirga, and Sirga remains a big attraction for all. The article in the Daily Mail received about 730 comments, overwhelmingly positive and adoring. Some comments did mention that this kind of activity was not saving lions at all, and that adopting a lion as a pet was ultimately going to be detrimental to the lion. Such comments were shouted down. But my interest was aroused for four other reasons.... see the rest of the blog here: lionaid.org/blog/2013/11/hugging-lions-or-conserving-lions.htm
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:04:02 +0000