Although Richardson was not walking the lions in the immediate or known presence of tourists, other private game managers on the continents do offer such close-contact experiences for guests. Experiences that expressly bring people and lions together on “walks” are risky because of the unpredictable nature of the wild animals, she says. If they are pursued they need to be done with expert guides and should be near vehicles. Honey agrees that walking safaris near known predators can be dangerous. And work with experienced guides who know animal behavior and the local area well, adds Dollar, who is also a professor in the Department of Environment and Sustainability at Catawba College. National Geographic explorer and big cat conservationist Luke Dollar says people in lion or other big predator territory must always remain alert and “acutely aware of our place in the food chain.” Where possible, stay in a vehicle, he says, which offers much better protection and more options for escape. “Human beings put the lion within this cage, even though it’s a rather large cage, and subjected it to other human beings, so we have a responsibility to recognize its continued wildness and not blame the animal.” ( Learn about a death at an animal park in China.) Are Lion Walks a Good Idea? Honey says in many cases the big cat would be shot. It’s currently unclear what happened to the lion after the attack. “We have to remember that wild animals remain wild, even if they are in cages-even if the cages are large, cordoned-off areas,” says Honey. Martha Honey, the executive director of the Center for Responsible Travel-a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates responsible tourism-says people shouldn’t blame the lion for doing what big predators do. One of the lionesses charged off after an impala and must have run 2 to 2.5 kilometers where she encountered the 22-year-old outside the car.” “We assessed the landscape for other big 5 animals and as per procedure sent out a notification that we were walking in the reserve. After finishing the interview, the woman began taking photos with her friend.Īt the same time, “myself and an experienced colleague took three lions walking in the reserve, as we do on a weekly basis, as part of their exercise and stimulation regiment,” Richardson wrote on Facebook. Richardson wrote that the woman had not been staying at his sanctuary but had been on the grounds to accompany a friend who was conducting an interview with the manager of the sanctuary’s associated Dinokeng Big 5 Game Reserve, a tented camp that is popular with tourists. Richardson and the sanctuary could not be reached for comment at the time of this publication, but Richardson wrote on his Facebook page that “I am devastated, and my heart goes out to this young woman’s family.” On Tuesday, a 22-year-old, unnamed woman was mauled to death while visiting a popular private wildlife sanctuary run by Kevin Richardson, the well-known “Lion Whisperer,” near Pretoria.
The killing of a young woman by a lion at a private game reserve in South Africa has stirred debate among the conservation community about the rules governing such enterprises and the role of such experiences in saving the species.
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