I was sent a link to this video by email yesterday and was totally astounded. It shows that even the biggest beasts an be tamed and can show affection.
My partners first response was “I want one!”.
The text that came with the email was:
Several years ago this woman found a sick, malnourished lion cub in the jungle. She took the cub home and fed him and brought him up until he was too big to keep anymore. Then she made arrangements with a zoo in Colombia to take the lion. Here’s a video of what happened when she went to visit him in the zoo for the first time:
Clicking on the above image will take toy to the video page
It is great to see a video showing the more loving side of wild animals. I am sure it happens every day in zoos areound the world but the news and media tends to focus on the stories where wild animals go out of control and harm us humans.I love lions and I love this video but I would not get that close to one!
17. March 2008 at 11:22 am
I’m with you on this. Way too close for me. I would guess by the looks of this video that the lion loves her. Thanks for sharing.
17. March 2008 at 5:51 pm
I looked a bit more into this. There are quite a few examples of people hugging wild cats. They seem to be highly affectionate animals, as long as you do not get confused for food.
18. March 2008 at 3:05 pm
That’s so cute! Aww. Don’t think I want one though.
20. March 2008 at 6:40 pm
It’s really a shame that only the bad stories make the news. Usually, when something bad does happen to cause an animal to attack a human, it tends to be a result of the human doing something stupid to antagonize the animal.
26. March 2008 at 11:47 am
actually, she rescued the lion from the circus. she runs a sanctuary for rescued animals in columbia, which, unfortunately for us, is not open to the public. she does not want to exploit the animals. here is an article on her:
CALI, Colombia – Through the bars of his cage, an African lion named Jupiter stretches his giant paws around the neck of Ana Julia Torres and plants a kiss on her puckered lips.
It could be a kiss of gratitude: Since Jupiter was rescued six years ago from a life of abuse and malnutrition in a traveling circus, Torres has fed and nursed him back to health at her Villa Lorena shelter for injured and mistreated animals.
“Here we have animals that are lame, missing limbs, blind, cross-eyed, disabled,” said Torres, 47, who relies on donations and her own modest teacher’s salary to run the shelter in a poor neighborhood in the southern city of Cali. “They come to us malnourished, wounded, burned, stabbed, with gunshots.”
Torres said her work rehabilitating animals began more than a decade ago when a friend gave her an owl that had been kept as a pet. Later, when she asked her students to bring their pets to school, she realized many families illegally kept wild fauna from Colombia’s biologically diverse jungles in their homes.
The number of animals under her care grew, and today Jupiter is among 800 recovering creatures at Villa Lorena — from burned peacocks and limbless flamencos to blind monkeys and mutilated elephants.
3. April 2008 at 4:57 pm
Hello webmaster Super arts about Result Animal
7. April 2008 at 3:15 pm
I love this story and have been looking at it and researching more information about this
woman, Ana Julia Torres.
I want to send a donation to her for her work and this inspiring story.
Sacramento, CA 4/7/08
19. August 2009 at 3:28 am
Did you ever find a legitimate way to donate directly to this woman? I too want to donate…I’ve been looking for a charity for some time! Thanks for any info!
7. April 2008 at 3:19 pm
I know it’s a great one.
I may myself research a little more and write a new post. I’ll leave a note here when I do so you can come by and read more.