She may look fierce but my lion’s just a big pussy cat!
HER prey usually runs off in terror before she even has time to bare her teeth.
But this time it stood still, smiled, and opened its arms wide for a hug.
Within seconds, the lioness had pounced... and a remarkably relaxed Kevin Richardson found himself enveloped in this astonishing embrace.
As she put two enormous paws on his shoulders in the middle of a river and snuggled up, he splashed her playfully and patted her like a family pet.
Mr Richardson and Meg, as she is called, are old friends.
She is one of two lions he brought up at his wildlife park in South Africa after they were rejected by their mother.
The 42-year- old conservationist calls himself the Lion Whisperer and claims to have an ‘ unspoken language’ with the orphans who will weigh up to 400lb when fully grown.
He posts videos of himself playing with them in the hope of publicising their plight as numbers dwindle in the wild.
He manages the Dinokeng Wildlife Reserve north of Pretoria – which is home to 31 lions. Mr Richardson said: ‘When I call Meg and she comes swimming, I see in her face [she is asking], “If I come to you are you going to catch me?” She looks at me, I look at her – and we know. That’s trust.’ He said rather than see them in cages, he preferred to give them a chance of a better quality of life in the wildlife park with other animals.