Moving LIONS is Wild! ｜ The Lion Whisperer

All right, good morning everyone. Today is moving day and that can only mean one thing, a little bit of chaos at the sanctuary. So yeah, we're going to be trying to move the entire sanctuary around, but as these lions get older it does get trickier. All right, first up, Fayetzi and Jenny. Hello guys. Oh, not nice Fayetzi, not nice. Be kind. Can you move your butt? Please. That's not very kind. Hello big boy. Don't be like that. Yeah, yeah. All right, whoop, go forward a bit. That wasn't very hard. You my boy, come. You. Yeah, Fayetzi, yeah. That went well. Okay, George, let's take these two to the end. They are going to be next up for an enrichment walk. So we're going to move them to the end and then we're going to have to bring Thor's group down to this camp here. That's the six. And then we're going to have to move Fayetzi and Jenny to that camp where Thor's group is. Oh guys, yeah. So, yeah, Fayetzi is doing a lot better, but still a little bit weak on the hindquarters. It's always a good test to make him jump in the loading vehicle because then I can gauge the strength of his hindquarters. So it's a massive improvement on what we've seen previously, but still not where it should be. Definitely a neurological issue there too. I can't help but wonder if he didn't have a stroke of some sort. It just seemed like that. But anyway, we are treating for it as well. Guys, I think the question that you all should be asking is, which of the lions is not on meds? That would probably be a more appropriate question. But as you all know, the females are pretty good. So starting with Meg, the eldest, still doing good. Just got to keep an eye out for those claws because those claws creep up on you, especially the older lions. The claws just grow into those paw pads and you don't even notice it. So even going in with them, you've got to literally check it and then just keep an eye out for it when you see a claw approaching. Now on Meg, I've noticed on her right paw, her dew claw and her pointy finger. It's getting a little bit too close for my liking. So weeks to come, we might have to get Doc out to trim those. Just such a pity I can't do it myself without having to sedate. But they do not like you tampering with their claws and it's completely understandable. It must feel very odd for them. It creeps them out so they Just when I was going to turn the camera off. You silly belly. You silly belly, belly, belly. Hey, how are you? All right, so we're meant to be doing a move and I don't think Icarus is going to come up today. So I think unfortunately, Meggie, we're going to have to leave you where you are. Meggie. So we're actually trying a new course of meds with Icarus, but yeah, it's not having the desired effect. So we're going to stop it and consulted with the doctor and we're going to change back his meds to the regime that was working the best for Icky. So yeah, it's just a little bit of a trial and error at the moment and we've just got to get that right combo. Unfortunately, Meggie and Icky are going to have to stay one more time. He went to my camera. One more time or week or a few more days. They're going to have to stay in this camp. It's not a bad camp. You're going to roll. I think Icky's Meggie, you're very hairy. What are you going to do with Icky? Sorry, my girl, you're not going to be able to come. Maybe what I'll do is take you on a walk alone. Also going to take Karn. So yeah, lots to do and take. Sorry. She wants to go. She is raring to go. Okay, we're going to have to leave you. We'll see you next time. Okay. How are we going to load these six George? What we're going to do is we're going to lock them in a small section. All of them? All of them, all six. Yeah. Then we drive in, then we release them. Then we load wherever we load. Then the ones will be remaining. We can just lock them back. Then we'll do a second load with them. That sounds like a good plan. I like it. All right, let's go. All right. So guys, for the people who are new to the channel, I have had the question come up as to why we move the lions from camp to camp. Those of you who've been following for a long, long time will know exactly why and you will know the answer. So just bear with me quickly. And guys, it's for several reasons, but the most important reason is to just give the lions a new habitat for them to explore, for them to go around and smell different smells, different stimulations. And that is important for their enrichment. So as you can well imagine, living in one area your entire life is pretty boring. I think most of you will agree with that sentiment. So we mix it up here at the sanctuary, especially for those lions that want to move. Obviously, when a lion gets to an age where it doesn't want to move, it can't move, it's unable to get into the loading vehicle, then we select a camp that is suitable and that lion will go there. And what we can even still do then is walk that lion. We cordon off areas with fencing, and then we walk the lion to another camp, normally the camp next door, just to give even that older lion mental enrichment, stimulation, etc. So that is the main reason for moving the lions around, shuffling them around, giving them new neighbours, new neighbours to argue with, new neighbours that they like or don't like, as the case may be. Obviously, if they really don't like their neighbours, like Echo and Naobi tend to irritate Bongani, he's an old male lion, we just then won't put those lions next to Bongani, just to save him the irritation at that age. And then the other reason, or what I find when I do these move-arounds, is you can very quickly see which lions are struggling with their physical health, because I know from previous occasions how they load, and then you can very quickly see, because they cannot mask their pain. So if they are in pain and they can't load, they just simply can't get in, or they stumble in, and then you know, okay, this lion needs more intervention. So it is a good way to give them a thorough health check, because what lions are really, really good at doing is masking sickness. I think it's obviously a primal thing, because you think about a lion behaviourally in the wild, if it shows weakness, it's not a good thing. From a perspective of other predators, but even the pride, looking at this and thinking, okay, this lion is a burden. They're not like wild dogs that look after their sick, the young and the lame and the old. Lions are really about the strength and integrity of the pride, and not pretty selfish at the best of times. So they're very good at masking their sicknesses and illnesses and ailments, but when you load them into the vehicle, or you get an opportunity to really give them a thorough look over, then they can't mask it. So that's the reasons guys. Even if you leave Charlie, leave him, I'll load him first. Okay, so we're going to leave Charlie out, and we're going to load him first, because Thor is the bully, and he will just jump straight in. Actually the other day, it was the first time I think I've loaded Charlie and Thor together for forever, since they were cubs. That was quite surprising, but anyway. Okay, the exciting group. let two lions out of here, which would be ideal, two girls, and then we can come back for the three left behind. Just got to get that pin out there. Done. Okay. No, Nij. Charlie. Captain chaos. Okay. All right, Nij, you can just wait there for a moment, my girl. No. Okay. Let's go out, and we'll regroup. Yeah, Nij, yeah, Nij, yeah. Okay. Much easier group to load the next time around. Okay, let me regroup.