This Big Cat Made An Unpredictable Move After Being Approached By The So-Called Lion Whisperer

How do you think you’d react to this terrifying scenario? Would you panic? It’s difficult to know, as not many of us have ever been in a comparable situation. Happily enough, in the comfort of our homes, we tend not to encounter such fearsome creatures all that often. One person who does, though, is Kevin Richardson.

Richardson is a self-professed “animal behaviorist,” a role that regularly brings him face-to-face with some truly fearsome wild beasts. He spends a lot of time with hyenas, for one thing, but that’s not how he made his name. No, Kevin Richardson isn’t famous for being the “Hyena Whisperer.”

Richardson is, in fact, the “Lion Whisperer,” a nickname he picked up circa 2007. As you might expect, this was because of all the time he spends hanging around with lions. He clearly has a soft spot for the creatures — but we all know how dangerous these animals can be.

The scene we described above — where a lion is stalking a swimmer in a pond — really took place. And it happened to Richardson. One day, the Lion Whisperer was taking a dip as a lioness watched on. This predator wasn’t content to stare indefinitely, though. She was getting ready to pounce.

Richardson must sometimes wonder how he ended up getting involved in such intense situations with these deadly predators. After all, his life had started out fairly conventionally. He grew up in the South African city of Johannesburg, in a typical suburban area. It was a far cry away from the savannah.

The boy who would one day become the Lion Whisperer first encountered one of these creatures in the same way as the rest of us: at a zoo. Looking back on that experience now, Richardson remembers feeling thrilled by it. But even as a kid, he felt it was wrong to see these cats in captivity.

Richardson’s interest in wildlife blossomed while he was in high school, after his then-girlfriend’s family took him on visits to national parks. Interested in working with animals, he tried to qualify for veterinary school. That didn’t work out, though, so he pursued a degree in human physiology instead.

When he graduated, Richardson moved into the world of work. He took a job in a gym, where he ended up meeting a customer by the name of Rodney Fuhr. A wealthy man, Fuhr also had a big interest in animals, and this led him to purchase a tourist attraction called Lion Park in 1998.

Richardson remembers his first visit to Lion Park with great fondness, as he made clear to Smithsonian magazine in 2015. He recalled, “I met two seven-month-old cubs, Tau and Napoleon. I was mesmerized and terrified, but most of all, I had a really profound experience. I visited those cubs every day for the next eight months.”

Richardson was hooked. He repeatedly came back to Lion Park to hang out with the cubs, convinced that he shared a special affinity with them. The baby lions really seemed to respond well to him, in a way that was far from normal. It’s understandable, then, that eventually Fuhr hired him.

Richardson wasn’t afraid to indulge in rough-and-tumble play with the lions, which is probably why they liked him so much. After all, they’re extremely sociable creatures and they love getting lots of attention. Richardson, for his part, was happy to give it to them, even if it meant getting scratched and gnawed a little.

Sadly, not all was what it seemed at Lion Park. Despite the joy Richardson and the cubs shared while they were playing, a darker story underpinned it all. Basically, the park had an attraction called Cub World, where members of the public could physically touch baby lions. Of course, that’s only possible when the animals are young and relatively harmless.

So, what happened to the cubs when they got older? In his chat with Smithsonian, Richardson admitted to being so naive that initially he didn’t really consider that. But in reality, these animals weren’t being kept at Lion Park. And given that they’d been living in captivity all their lives, they weren’t equipped to survive in the wild.

The unpalatable truth is that as these lions grew too old for petting, they were sold on. Some would end up in zoos; others were destined for the circus. Some were sent abroad, where they could be forced into dreadful situations. And some poor creatures were destined to end their days in “canned hunting” scenarios. Here, human hunters pay huge sums of money to pursue the big cats inside an enclosed space.

When Richardson learned these animals’ fates, he was horrified — but he was caught in a bind. In truth, he was working in an industry that was profiting from some arguably barbaric practices. But at the same time, he had a real relationship with lions and he believed he could protect them. He felt responsible for them.

Eventually, Richardson fell out with his former boss Fuhr. He left his job at Lion Park, which meant he now had an opportunity to do something different. The animal-lover had slowly built up a reputation as the Lion Whisperer over the years, and now he wanted to do all he could to help the animals.

It might seem paradoxical that Richardson set out to protect lions from humans, even though he had made his name in videos where he wrestled with them. But he explained to Smithsonian, “If I didn’t utilize my relationship with the lions to better the situation of all lions, it would just be self-indulgent... But my ‘celebrity,’ my ability to interact with the lions, has meant I’ve had more impact on lion conservation.”

In the end, Richardson thinks his reputation as the Lion Whisperer ultimately highlights the issue of lion conservation. And that, he argues, justifies his approach. And certainly plenty of people have seen his videos. The clips on his YouTube page have, after all, racked up millions of views.

One of Richardson’s most dramatic videos, though, isn’t even on his own YouTube channel. It was actually uploaded by GoPro, which joined forces with the Lion Whisperer to produce a video highlighting the terrible practice of canned hunting. In it, we see just how up-close and personal he gets with these fearsome beasts.

At the start of the video, Richardson can be seen trying to attach a GoPro onto one of the lionesses. The big cat, though, is having none of it. She collapses to the ground, rolling around and preventing the Lion Whisperer from completing his task. Exasperated, Richardson can be heard saying, “Just as I was about to do it!”

Just after Richardson utters these words, things take a turn. The lion, from its position on the ground, makes a move for the Lion Whisperer’s arm. With her mouth, she grabs him and pulls him down to the ground. If it wasn’t for Richardson’s laughter at this point, the scene might seem quite terrifying.

With Richardson now down on the ground, the lion toys with him a little. She jumps on top of him and stamps down, before stepping back and letting him regain his footing. All of this is captured on a GoPro strapped to Richardson, revealing the intimate relationship he has with the creature.

In another scene in this video for GoPro, we see one of Richardson’s lion friends on the hunt. Some sort of smaller animal runs past the big cat, triggering it to dive and attempt to take the prey down. Fortunately for this other nippy creature, it manages to escape to safety.

This animal somehow manages to jump over the lion as it flees the scene. It’s a close call, though, as the lion seems to even get its paw onto the animal. The potential meal is lucky to make its escape, and the footage again reminds us just how dangerous lions can be when they’re not playing around.

In another scene in this video, Richardson and a crew of technicians set up a series of cameras around a pond. These handy pieces of equipment are placed in branches and shrubs, so they’re hidden from view. When that’s done, Richardson begins to coax one of the lions over to the water’s edge.

Richardson then wades into the water himself, submerging himself right up to the waist. The lion, meanwhile, keeps her eyes on him at all times. She hunches over, clearly interested in what she sees in front of her. It looks like she’s about to leap — and Richardson appears to be her target.

Speaking in the video, Richardson recalls this moment with his lion friend, who is named Meg. He says, “We’re going on a walk, and I say, ‘You know what? I’m gonna take a dive in the dam.’ Next thing I saw, Meg was sitting on the edge going, ‘I wanna come, I wanna come.’”

Richardson continues, “And then I thought, ‘Well, yeah, why not?’ So I called her: ‘Come, come, come, come...’” That’s all well and good, of course, but Meg is a big, dangerous lion. Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to try and get her to jump on top of you in water?

Even though he was totally used to wrestling with lions by this point in his life, it seems Richardson wasn’t totally oblivious to the dangers involved here. He expresses as much in the video. He remarks, “[I] didn’t really think as to what was going to happen when she got to me.”

Richardson then mentions Meg’s fearsome claws, noting how dangerous they could potentially be. As he puts it in the clip, “She’s got all these, like, very serious weaponry.” Maybe, then, inviting her into the water isn’t such a good idea? After all, her claws could obviously inflict fatal damage.

In the footage, regardless of these considerations, Richardson continues to encourage the lion toward the water. Soon the pair are positioned face-to-face. Neither Richardson nor the lion breaks their gaze, and time seems to stand still. Just how exactly is this going to play out?

It’s clear that this situation can’t last forever: either Richardson or the lion will have to break the stare and make a move some time. But which one will it be, and what will happen then? Pretty soon, we get our answer. The moment finally breaks, and the lion pounces.

Put yourself in Richardson’s shoes here, as an enormous killing machine soars through the air towards you. It’s obviously a terrifying prospect, and one that not many of us would likely survive. Clearly, though, Richardson has a different sort of relationship with lions than the rest of us. He actually catches her!

Understandably, Richardson has a clear memory of this moment. As he explains in the video clip, “She came, swam, and put her paws on my shoulders and went, ‘Okay, you got me. Cool.’” So as he describes it, the cat hadn’t been hunting Richardson at all — rather, she’d wanted him to protect her when she entered the water.

Richardson, it seems, was very touched by this moment. He says, “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s amazing. This lioness trusts me enough to, you know, come into the water.’” If evidence was ever needed that this man really was a Lion Whisperer, here it was. Far from hurting him, the lion had apparently sought his help.

At the end of the clip, Richardson reflects on his relationship with his lion friends and describes them as “soulmates.” Explaining his thinking on this, he says, “It’s like humans: you can meet many, many people in your life, but there’s very few that you actually connect wholeheartedly with.”

For someone who has spent so much time with lions, practices like canned hunting are obviously deeply upsetting for Richardson. As he explains in the GoPro video, “Because I’m so involved with lions, and I know lions on an emotional, personal level, canned hunting is personal. I don’t see them as just this commodity — they’re not. These are apex, iconic predators.”

Ultimately, Richardson’s position is an odd one. On the one hand, he doesn’t want humans to interfere with lions. But on the other hand, he’s their day-to-day friend. Ideally, he would never have to spend so much time taking care of the big cats, and they’d be free to roam the wilds as they should.

But that’s sadly just not how the world works at the moment. These majestic cats face many threats nowadays, and they need to be protected. That’s why Richardson has taken it upon himself to try to help these creatures out. He’s claimed that if they were guaranteed safety, he’d free all lions under his care right away. But with that dream some way off, for now he’s committed himself to looking after them.