kevin richardson

Early life

Richardson was born in the Nightingale Clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1974. He spent his childhood in the neighborhood of Orange Grove. He is a South African citizen of English descent. Patricia, his mother, worked for Barclays Bank, and was also born in South Africa. Her parents had emigrated from England. Richardson's father worked for a pharmaceutical company, and moved to South Africa from Reading, Berkshire. Kevin Richardson was the youngest of 4 children: an older brother and two sisters who were twins. Kevin has, from the time he was an infant, loved all animals. He was breeding crickets and kept a toad called "Paddatjie" ("Little Frog") at the age of 3. Nicknamed "The Bird Man of Orange Grove," he cared for multiple animals as a kid and grew up spending most of his time in his backyard. At the age of 13, Richardson's father died. When he was about 16, he met Stan Schmidt and Richardson started his career as a zoologist.

Zoologist career

Richardson went to university and started learning zoology, but quit after two years after repetitive lessons on marine biology instead of mammals. Richardson started his adult life believing that he would never work with animals as a career. He thought that his work with animals would be a hobby. He started taking courses in physiology and anatomy in college and started a career in physiotherapy. and ended up helping people with exercise physiology. When he was 23, he came across the chance to work with two 6-month old cubs at the Lion Park near the outskirts of his home in Johannesburg. He still works with the grown up cubs, Tau and Napoleon. The owner, Rodney Fuhr, started him off with a part time job at the Lion Park.

Kevin Richardson with Hyena

Richardson and his team work with animals for the commercial filming industry and make documentaries to generate income to fund his facility. They also have a volunteer program which brings in income and much needed extra hands to run the sanctuary. Richardson is a self-taught zoologist. He develops a bond with his lion and gets to know them, and has gained notoriety as a zoologist by living and sleeping with lions. Richardson has disregarded many safety rules concerning lions, and has dispelled many myths about their training.

Richardson has worked with big cats and relies on intuition rather than static rules. He has slept next to, fed, and lived with his lions. Along with his lions, he has worked with cheetahs, leopards, and hyenas. He prefers lions to any other big cat. His relationship, however, is not an instant one. Most of the lions he works with, he has known since they were cubs. He still continues his bond with Tau and Napoleon, the lion brothers that introduced him to big cats.His unique relationship with the genus Panthera has dispelled many myths concerning the care of lions. Richardson shows that lions and animals in general have personalities, feelings, and are social creatures. He shows that with mutual respect, many species can coexist together. That does not mean there are no dangers; Richardson, throughout his career, has had many close encounters.

Dangers

Richardson quickly learned about the dangers of lion keeping early on. A four year old male held him down and bit him; the lion held on and then let go and walked away. From then on, Richardson has used his intuition and stays away if something feels wrong. In another incident, the lions were in a good mood. Two 400 pound (180 kilogram) lions threw Richardson to the ground and another female jumped on him. He emerged with his face red. As he left, one lion smacked his shoulder with a paw. Richardson has unintentionally been clawed and bitten before. It is the nature of lions to scratch each other and they regard Richardson no differently. Richardson is not dissuaded with these dangers. In an interview, he mentions, "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." He warns about following in his footsteps, however. All the pictures of his adventures do not portray his years of experience and bonding. "People like to take things out of context. They don't know the relationship I have with this lion." Richardson, as a rule only interacts with lions he has been with since their birth.

Mission

The population of lions has dropped from about 350,000 to an estimated 25,000 in a 15 year span. Richardson hopes the media attention of his movies will raise public awareness and educate them on the conservation needed to protect Africa's animals. Lion hunts in South Africa are worth more than 90 million dollar (£60 million) a year says the Professional Hunters Association. 16,394 foreign hunters (more than half of which fly from the US) killed 46,000+ animals from Sept. 2006 - Sept. 2007. Trophy hunting is worth $91.2 million a year and foreign tourist sometimes pay up to $40,000 to shoot a lion. The government supports hunting because of its revenue. Provincial government sell permits to kill rhinos, lions, elephants, and giraffes. 1,050 lions were killed in 2008. White Lionhopes to give people second thoughts about participating in these events.