Kevin Richardson (zoologist)

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Kevin Richardson with some lions

Kevin Richardson (born October 8, 1974 in Johannesburg , South Africa ) is an animal rights activist and the owner of the Kingdom of the White Lion Park in Gauteng Province , South Africa. He specialized in lions and their behavior. He also works with other animals such as cheetahs , leopards and hyenas . According to his own statement, he is a recognized member of a group of hyenas and a pride of lions. Known as the "Lion Whisperer", he works as a writer and film producer.

Childhood and youth

Richardson was born in the Nightingale Clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa. He grew up in Orange Grove, a suburb of Johannesburg. His mother, also born in South Africa, worked at Barclays Bank. Her parents came from England and emigrated to South Africa. His father worked for a pharmaceutical company and was from Reading, Berkshire . Kevin, the youngest of four children, has loved animals since childhood: at the age of three he raised crickets and had a toad named “Paddajie”. Nicknamed "The Bird Man of Orange Grove" ( German for example: 'The Bird Man of Orange Grove '), he looked after various animals and spent a large part of his childhood in his garden. When Richardson was 13 years old, his father died. At 16, Richardson met Stan Schmidt and began his career as a zoologist.

Zoological career

Kevin Richardson with hyena

After failing to get a place to study as a veterinarian , Richardson turned to zoology . He dropped out of the corresponding course after two years because it was focused on marine biology. Richardson then took courses in physiology and anatomy in college to pursue a career as a physical therapist. This is how he met Rodney Fuhr at the age of 23, who owned Lion Park in Broederstroom, 35 km from Johannesburg. Richardson spent a lot of time in the 647 acre park. There he met the six-month-old lion cubs Tau and Napoleon, with whom he worked intensively for a year. Fuhr gave him a part-time job in the park and eventually a full job.

Today Kevin Richardson owns the 800-acre Kingdom of the White Lion Park, where he and his team care for rare white lions , black horned hyenas , spotted hyenas , black leopards, jaguars and many antelope species including blue wildebeest , giraffes , impalas , Take care of the great ibex and nyalas. Richardson also works with his lions on commercial film projects and documentaries to raise funds for the park. The park also runs a volunteer program.

Work with lions

Richardson is a self-taught zoologist. His knowledge comes from relationships with his animals. He broke many of the rules that are commonly used when dealing with lions and other big cats, which, from his perspective, invalidated many myths about the training of these animals. There are lions in the park who see a hyena as a pack member because they grew up with it. The bonds between him and the animals should be so great that he can lie down to sleep between lions, look at the newborn babies of the lionesses and go swimming with a lioness he has reared.

Richardson also faced dangers in his work with lions. A four year old male held him on the ground and bit him, then let go and walked away. Since that incident, Kevin has been using instincts to stay away from dangerous situations. In another incident, two 180 kg lions threw him to the ground and a female jumped on him. Richardson was scratched several times, but this often happens among lions and is in their nature - as a pack member he is therefore treated no differently than the other lions.

"Obviously one realizes the danger when working with animals of this caliber, I've weighed the pros and I've weighed the cons, and the pros far outweigh the cons."

“Of course you are aware of the dangers of working with animals of this caliber; I've weighed the pros and cons, and the pros far outweigh the cons. "

- Kevin Richardson :

mission

With the lion population said to have fallen from 350,000 to 25,000 individuals in 15 years, Richardson hopes his films will raise public awareness and raise awareness of the need to protect African animals. Lion hunts in South Africa are worth more than $ 90 million , according to the Professional Hunter Association . Almost 17,000 hunters (more than half of them from the United States) killed over 46,000 animals between September 2006 and September 2007. The government in South Africa supports such hunts through the revenue from the state coffers. Kevin Richardson and the Kingdom of the White Lion hope that they can get people reconsidering attending such events.

Works / publications

title Duration / Pages Includes Produced / Published
Dangerous Companions 52 minutes Lions and hyenas Unknown
Growing Up Hyena Part of the Growing-Up series Hyenas Animal Planet
In Search of a Legend 52 minutes Black leopard Graham Wallington
White Lion: Home is a Journey 88 minutes White Lion Peru Productions
Part of the Pride: My Life Among the Big Cats of Africa 256 pages Kevin Richardson St. Martin's Press
The Lion Whisperer: My Life Among the Big Cats of Africa 280 pages Kevin Richardson Unimedica, Kandern 2012, ISBN 978-3-943309-34-8
The Lion Ranger 3 × 60 minutes different animals National Geographic

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ BL Ochman: Lion Whisperer Kevin Richardson at Lion Park. Don't Try This at Home, Boys & Girls! ( Memento from August 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: www.pawfun.com. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  2. ↑ a b Kevin Richardson . In: Career Focus Magazine. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  3. ↑ Kevin Richardson - The Lion Whisperer. About the Kingdom. ( Memento from September 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: www.lionwhisperer.co.za. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  4. ^ A b The Lion Whisperer Kevin Richardson ( Memento from August 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In: www.zimbio.com. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  5. ↑ Big cats purr like kittens for 'Lion Whisperer'. In: www.today.msnbc.msn.com. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Richardson, Kevin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES The lion whisperer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Johannesburg , South Africa