However, the circumstances are entirely different. The Lion Park is a small artificial environment with captive lions that are used to being fed by humans and associate humans with food. Wild lions, on the other hand, are not intimately familiar with humans and do not associate them with food. As long as you stay seated in the vehicle, the lion perceives you and the vehicle as a single, inedible entity. The important thing to remember is not to stand up in the car or lean out of it.
I must admit, though, that I am not exactly a poster boy for safe interactions with wild animals. Here's a video from yesterday (as usual, those reading this via email will have to visit the website to see it). This was while I was filming material for a documentary at Akwaaba Predator Park in South Africa. This particular piece of footage will not be used in the final product!
You can come see a non-dangerous striped hyena at The Biblical Museum of Natural History. (It's not dangerous because it's stuffed.)
Off to Zimbabwe tomorrow! Lehitra'ot!
(Thanks to my good friend Jake Shepherd for all his help in South Africa!)
(P.S. I'm not yet choosing a winner for yesterday's caption contest, because entries are still coming in.)
Everyone is writing to me about the American woman who was tragically killed by a lion today at the Lion Park, a place close to where I am now, and which I have visited several times. Apparently it happened because she had left her car windows open.
ReplyDeleteHaven't your kids ever opened a car window without permission?!
Let's admit that there is some risk dealing with lions, but that life without any risk may not be worth living (or even possible). Stairs in the house, swimming pools and driving are quite dangerous relatively speaking.
Of course, the "other person" always did something that we would never do. In fact, the "other person" was thinking the same thing.
"It's not dangerous because it's stuffed."
ReplyDeleteI'm quite glad you keep it well-fed. But won't that make it associate humans with food?
R' Natan, "enough with the hyenas already". This is the 2nd dangerous encounter with a hyena that you have reported (the 1st, as I recall, was when you ran out of meat for that hyena, and it was looking greedily at you as a new source). This time you, apparently, annoyed one by petting it and attempting to control its movement.
ReplyDeleteY. Aharon