South African Ranger! Incredible (pics)

reply to post by NotAgain


Where on earth did you get the idea I don't like lions? How about not putting words in my mouth? Good target practice ....sheesh! I even said I don't agree with trophy hunting. Do you know anyone who eats lions?
BTW, the only reason he can be so close is because he RAISED these animals. Yes, it's his life and if that's how he wants to go that's fine. I just want to make sure no-one has any romantic fantasies about doing what this guy does.
Sorry if I sounded harsh on the guy, I thought the thread needed some balance in the other direction.
If you think you love animals more than me then that's fine too. ATS is all about opinions anyway.

Amazing photos.. but .. I cannot help but fear this man is soon to become a Lion Snack .. I mean, I play and mess around with my own cat, but every once in a while he decides to beat me up, leaving me with scars to prove his machoness. I can only imagine one slightly harassed full grown tiger would leave a bit more than a cat scratch.

Hope he is successful in protecting these animals, they need our help.

Greatness continued....

If you look at my avavtar you will see the Emperor Rastafari who had 19 Lions around His palace(no they were not chained up), they would also play with Him and look after His family. Lions have been tamed for years...one male Lion of His Imperial Majesty was called Tojo, and loved to eat the flowers in the palace garden....

God will allow the Lions,Sheep and Man to dwell together in peace and harmony. As it's written so it shall be.

No, those are not fake pictures...Lion Park is just up the road from me here in SA.

The pictures are amazing and he has a dream of a job, caring for all of those critters. If he's had the job for a long time, he's probably known most, if not all, of those animals since they were born.

Are these photos real? If so i wander what its like to get high with a hyena.reply to post by timewalker

reply to post by m1geer


even if they were photoshopped, the video doesn't lie. Obviously he has a nice bond with these animals.

just a thought, could this be harmful for the actual lions? i mean get too comfortable with humans means poachers can easily kill them

reply to post by Asktheanimals

know anyone who eats lions

Truthfully.... No but I'm sure somebody will correct me and say Grays do or something

I see where you are coming from now, sorry when I read your post I sense guns? I automatically put that sense with your first reply to this topic and came to the conclusion that you Hunt either for pleasure/or simply target practice.

I just appreciate and respect life of all kinds.

Even the guy playing with lions, lets just hope nobody on here thinks of jumping in the Lion enclosure on their next trip to the zoo. If they do I hope they are not waring an ATS T-Shirt

I watched this program on the discovery channel and hyena's have the most powerful jaws in the world even after a crocidile and a great white shark, amazing he could put his face near one's mouth.

He seems to slip past their natural instinct.

reply to post by NotAgain


I know you love animals very much by your writing. I do appreciate people who defend wildlife too. I'm not a "shoot em up" kinda guy by any means. When I hunt it's only for food and I try to do it with good ethics, never take a poor shot etc. I was raised in a family that hunted and fished since before I was born. My dad lost his mother early and when he got hungry he had to go out and kill a jackrabbit to have something to eat.
I LOVE big cats! They are about the most graceful creatures God ever made. I would never kill one, perhaps not even in self-defense. They are just too few sadly.
One part of me envies the hell out of that guy for what he does and his relationship with these animals. When I did rehab I would get pretty attached to the various critters but the idea was to get them healthy so they could get out in to the wild again. Despite knowing the dangers they would face I knew it was best for them to back in the wild again, living as they are supposed to.
This is why I love ATS so much, you find people who you think have opposing views but if you look closer you find we have the same interests at heart - those of the animals.
Keep defending wildlife sir! I respect and admire you for that.

It is incredible how we can attain harmony with nature all around us!
This guy is a prime example of it!


Blessings

Have no doubts, if these lions were hungry he would have been eaten:



he is clamping the lions mouth shut in this pic.

it's much easier to frolic with non hungry lions.

[edit on 10-3-2010 by MR BOB]

Thank you for sharing this link with us. Things like this brighten my day and lift my spirits. Hard to find in the world as it is today.

It's amazing what this guy can do.. even if they are tamed animals..HE tamed them, Lions, hyuenas.. Those little bastards are hard as hell to tame. He's got some balls of steal for sure. What I would give to be in a double Lion hug. That would be an extremely cool experience. To play around with them like they are kittens, but knowing that at any moment they could bite your face off and rip you limb from limb to feed you to the babies. ooohhh that would be amazing. props to this guy for sure.

Originally posted by murphyhurtme
it looks like he just photoshopped himself into some of these. he overdoes the poses.

There definitely not photoshopped. I know i saw a documentary or something about him and his hyenas, i wanna say on Animal Planet, but it might have been Nat Geo. But i remember specifically that guy and those hyenas him practically wrestling with those animals.

reply to post by dwiggen


I seriously doubt these are fakes... the animals don't even seem agressive in the pictures with him, so what would be the urpose of a fake? obviously the man is either gifted, or just has a greater understanding of animals than most in the world... Either way you look at it, it all sums down to one thing, WE have the ability to domesticate and co-exist with wild animals, but we are not willing, and inadvertently driving them extinct

I SO want a pet hyena now.

Lion King himself!
He is very brave and you can see he loves the animals!
Nice post!

I found a nice video about him!

seems these pictures are of his own animals on his own private reserve,suppose they have known him all their lives and no ones else is allowed to interact with them.

This guy is not a Steve Irwin wannabe. Steve Irwin generally pulled, prodded and pee'ed off most of the wild animals he came into contact with when they were just going about thier day and minding thier own business. It's no wonder he got himself killed in the end. He was probably riling up the sting ray that pierced him in the heart.

This guy has obviosuly been with these animals since they were very young and have learnt to trust and respect eachother. It must be an amazing feeling to be able to connect with these beautiful animals.

They are great pics S+F

I was just thinking, i'd love to go up to one of these huge animals with him and be able to pet one on the head, but i can't bring myself to be more than two feet from a spider without running for my life

[edit on 12-3-2010 by skitzspiricy]

Those hyenas look like they would eat pit bulls for breakfast.

Man they are thick all around.