How To Hug a Lion

AMAZING! - Lion hugs man! Shot 100% at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa FL, Todd the "Lion Charmer" shows viewers how to hug a lion...

Lions need YOUR help! ... How is cub petting connected to lions being killed in the wild? Take action here: http://bigcatrescue.org/cubs/

There are at least two primary ways that paying to pet a cub results in that cub growing up to be shot in a cage and slaughtered as a trophy, or for his or her bones, fur or meat.

1.  In Africa there are many "parks" that offer the opportunity to bottle feed, or pose with lion cubs. Some will offer "walk with lions" where you walk among juvenile lions so that they get used to the idea of people walking right up to them to shoot them. They always tell you that it is for conservation and that the cubs are orphaned or rejected by their mothers, but it's a lie. That is just what they know you want to hear so that you can feel good about touching a wild animal that would never let you do so if they had a choice in the matter.

NONE of these parks are actually doing anything for conservation.  The cubs are sent to canned hunts, which are fenced in areas where people pay to shoot lions as trophies.

2. In America there are many zoos and pseudo sanctuaries that offer the opportunity to bottle feed, or pose with lion cubs. They always tell you that it is for preservation of the species and that the cubs are orphaned or rejected by their mothers, but it's a lie. That is just what they know you want to hear so that you can feel good about touching a wild animal that would never let you do so if they had a choice in the matter.

USDA guidelines only allow that contact between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks, so every month a new litter has to be produced for the public to use as photo, petting and ego props. We estimate that 200 lion, tiger and liger cubs are bred each year and hawked to the public as orphaned, rejected or needing human bonding.

When they are no longer lucrative money makers, they quickly grow to 300-500 lbs and begin costing thousands of dollars a year to feed and house so they are given away to ill prepared, pet owners, or sold to brokers, who sell them to exotic meat markets in the U.S.

In Africa there are limited permits issued to kill lions and other wild cats. They are killed in the wild and on game farms in cages, but the hunting companies don't want to limit themselves to the export permits that they have obtained legally, so they sell the same permit over and over. The problem for them is that they can only export one carcass per permit, so when someone comes from the U.S. to pay $50,000 to shoot a lion, they let them do so, because there is no one on site monitoring how many times lions are killed, but when it comes time for the "hunter" to get his trophy, the African hunting outfitter calls a broker in the U.S. and orders up one of those excess lion cubs from last year's pay to play schemes to be killed and forwarded on to the "hunter."

Don't pay to see, touch or pose with baby lions, baby tigers or baby ligers.  If you do, their blood is on your hands.

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