I Pet Lions!

The other day I took a trip to Ukutula Lion Sanctuary. It's a place where lions, cheetahs, and Tigers can live healthy lives. Lions that have been in zoos for example or places where their living situation was less than healthy can come here and continue to live out their lives. So while I'm against people thinking they can play with wild animals, such as they see a dolphin in the wild and think they can play with it like they would a dog, these animals are not living in the wild. I wish they were, but due to their past they probably won't be reintroduced into the wild. Our guide was very adamant about respect for these animals, like one would have for a horse. The expression 'don't poke the bear' came to mind a few times.

So while they don't live in the wild they do take part in studies on genetics! We can learn more about them and maybe ideas of how better keep the species healthy can come from that.

Our guide told us that the cheetahs aren't normally social but this one came up and let us pet it, it was purring the whole time!

Me feeding a lion cub. It's name was fatty. Note to Perry's: I am wearing my Caspian Lake T-shirt. So a piece of camp came with me.
This is a tolder lion, only a few months (or maybe it was weeks?) older than the one in the previous picture. We went into the enclosure and it ran up and was very social. Unfortunately this lion almost tripped me while it was rubbing up against my legs and purring (such a cat!). These lions, even though young, were solid muscle and I'll never forget the strength this lion had as it was rubbing up against me. It almost toppled me over a few times.
This was our guide, Ben. He has worked with this lion since it was a cub and it was greeting him as we got close. It was strange hearing a grown lion purr. This same lion also sniffed my hand a few minutes after this picture was taken. I guess I never realized how big lions really are until this one stood right next to me, it was taller than my waist.
This guy fell asleep in my arms. How cute! They reminded me of Oose's kittens a little bit, but I could tell they would do a whole lot more damage than the pint-sized ones I've cared for.
They also had tigers too! Aren't they beautiful? We couldn't play with them because they are a bit rougher than lions are, a trait of their species, but we were able to get very close.