Unless he is incredibly lucky, the “lion man” of Johannesburg, Mr. Richardson, will come to a sticky end. Even George Adamson, of “Born Free” fame was bitten by a lion, something I have written about, but which most people choose to ignore. At least one man died after being attacked by George’s “tame” lion, and other near misses occurred. Large predators are not to be messed with, not even by the most well-meaning of people.

s.

The hyaena died as an indirect result of a conflict of interests between livestock owners and carnivores.

I routinely dissect all carnivores that I find, and sometimes large herbivores. Seeing the state of various organs and tissues can tell one a great deal, not only about how the animal died, but also how it lived. In cases where the cause of death is known, a dissection helps me to become more familiar with a what a “normal” carnivore physiology looks like, and consequently might make me better at assessing future cases.

Throw into this mix, the fact that people’s livestock losses to wildlife-borne diseases outweigh losses to depredation by a factor of of maybe 3 times. Its critical that we try to reduce the impact of wildlife on people’s livelihoods, and identifying pathologies quickly can help. Have a look at Asuka’s work (Maravet blog) for an elaboration of this.

So, I read the story about the Lion Man and I kept thinking of Timothy Treadwell and his “work” with grizzlies. What do you think of the Lion Man’s interactions with lions?

s.