You're probably not one for leaping into lion cages without a safety harness.
The answer would probably be not many.
Be it a pack of lions or a group of humans, there is always one fearless and strong leader
that takes the reins.
However, it looks like one women has managed to assert herself as the dominant of pack
of 4 lions.
How did she manage to do this?
Well, her fascinating background story explains the fascinating relationship she shares with
these lions.
Lion are notoriously strong and intimidating animals.
Hence, they’re not just called the king of the jungle for nothing.
They do not anger easily and will attack when provoked.
Due to their hunter nature, it can seem impossible to ever tame a lion.
However, one woman has managed to figure out the secret to taming lions.
In fact, she has also managed to place herself as the leader of the pack.
Or Lazmi is an animal trainer and manager at Seaview Predator Park.
The park is a privately-owned establishment in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
It is at this park that Lazmi discovered an innate talent she never knew she had.
When four lion cubs were brought to the private park, Lazmi was the first to begin caring
for them.
She quickly became their mother figure as she raised the lions for the next 17 months.
This helped solidify their bond.
Since Lazmi raised the lions since they were tiny cubs, they quickly associated her as
their mother figure and thus greatly respect her.
They view Lazmi as a dominant figure in their lives and wouldn’t dare hurt or disrespect
her.
Even though the lions have grown into full adults at this point, Lazmi still approaches
them with the greatest of ease.
Lazmi often heads into their enclosure without anyone else and just hangs out with her lion
children.
The lions have an amazing reaction to her.
Without any worries or doubts in her mind, Lazmi heads into her lion’s enclosure.
The lions quickly perk up at the sight of their mother!
They begin to shower Lazmi with hugs, kisses, and all sorts of different affections.
Lazmi is so confident in her pack leadership, that she also invites others into the enclosure
with her.
In an interview with Animal Planet, Lazmi explained how the situation would be quite
different if the visitors would head inside the enclosure without her.
While being interviewed, the biggest question on everyone’s mind was how this woman managed
to create such a close bond with the lions.
After all, they never seem to want to attack her or act viciously.
In fact, it seems that her presence actually calms the lions down.
“We respect them as wild animals, to start off with.
I think that’s one of the key points.
We don’t train them; we don’t do anything like that,” Lazmi explained in the interview.
Then she went into greater detail describing the value of mutual respect between her and
the lions.
“You basically need to earn their trust and their respect.
They’ve known me as a constant dominant figure in their life since they were babies,
and that’s why I’m able to go up so close to them now.”
Still, she wouldn’t advise any visitors to head into the enclosure without her.
“That would be a totally different story,” Lazmi said when asked about visitors going
into the enclosure without her.
“That’s why it is important to us to remember they are wild animals, so their instincts
can stay there.”
When most people hear about the relationship shared between Lazmi and her lions, they are
shocked!
After all, maintaining such a close bond with such ferocious and dangerous creatures seems
unrealistic.
However, Lazmi says that it makes total sense!
Lazmi has described the relationship shared between her and the lions as intuitive.
Since they’ve known her since they were babies they see her as dominant.
This is the only reason why she is able to get so close to them as adults.
Even though Lazmi has managed to create such a close bond with the lions, she has some
bigger plans set out for them in the future.
Lazmi is aware that being held in captivity is not a good life for a lion, so she wants
to eventually release them into the wild.
Lazmi has explained that once the lions are fully grown, she intends to release them into
the wild and see how they manage.
If they are able to successfully adapt, then this could be big news for a lot of other
lions currently in captivity.
Lazmi hopes to disprove a lot of false ideas as well.
Lazmi hopes to end a lot of misinformation about releasing lions into the wild after
they’ve been held in captivity.
She stated that many people have the false assumption that lions that have had human
contact couldn’t survive out in the wild.
“That’s what we’re hoping to prove wrong, because you have, right now in South Africa,
more lions in captivity than in the wild.
So if we can take the animals from this situation and prove that you can turn them wild again,
then we can be saving quite a few of them.”
Lazmi’s end goal is quite a noble one.
She hopes to help integrate lions back into the wild so that the species will no longer
be primarily kept in captivity.
Hopefully, her mission becomes a successful one!
Training animals is not an easy task, but this lion trainer has managed to become successful.
I’m confident that even her controversial goal can be achieved with a steady and dedicated
approach like that.