Two Months Gone, Two Lives Damaged Forever

Two Months Gone, Two Lives Damaged Forever

It’s coming up on two months since Megan van Der Zwan was fatally mauled by a lion under the care of famed “Lion Whisperer” Kevin Richardson. Though the devastating occurrence was widely reported at the time that it happened (February 27, 2018) it quickly fell off the radar of the general public. Interest was briefly renewed when Richardson made a single, carefully worded, and legally-minded statement to the media, which laid the blame for the mauling solely on the bloodied brow of the dead young woman.

Richardson’s statement, and nuanced assertion that the mauling was caused by the young women who were attacked, stirred a knee-jerk reaction from the public worldwide, a collective shoulder-shrugging dismissal of the entire thing. The families of both the deceased van der Zwan, and her unnamed friend were subsequently forced to watch as literally thousands of comments informed them that their family members “deserved” to be attacked by a lion because they were “outside their vehicles” as per the “Lion Whisperer’s” own account of the situation.

But that carefully worded statement was designed for the explicit purpose of creating just this reaction and mindset within a public which has long adored and hero-worshipped Kevin Richardson. While it contained no actual lie, it also intentionally misled the entire world to think that van Der Zwan and her friend had stopped their vehicle within the expanses of a Big Five game reserve and gotten out of that vehicle, thus placing themselves in danger.

The truth is a very different scenario.

• While the full details are still unknown–as there is still an ongoing investigation of Richardson’s facilities and practices being carried out by officials–we do know the basic facts of the case. They are as follows:

• Van der Zwan and her friend came to Richardson’s sanctuary for some sort of school project. They interviewed the manager of the bush camp.

• Richardson knew the young women were there, and had spoken to them that morning.

• Richardson had already taken one set of lions off the grounds of his sanctuary, located on the Welgedacht reserve, at the edge of the Dinokeng Game Reserve, hauling them by truck out onto the DGR (and into the territory of established wild lions) so he could “walk” with them. This is the type of interaction that has made Richardson a household name.

• While the two young women were still at the sanctuary, Richardson decided to take out a second set of lions, trucking them onto the DGR, and releasing them to roam freely.

• The young women were inside the fenced and gated bush camp–which regularly hosts tourists for visits and overnight stays, and is considered safe to walk around in, due to the fences and gates–but apparently for reasons unknown the gate to the bush camp was standing open.

• After concluding their interview with the camp’s manager, the young women exited the offices, and walked toward their vehicle where it was parked, pausing en route so they could take photos of the area.

• While taking photos, the two women were ambushed from behind by a lioness who had apparently entered the camp through the open gate. Megan van der Zwan suffered the full attention of the lioness, and was fatally mauled as her friend watched on in horror.

And so the cover up began.

Though authorities were immediately called, and aid was rendered, van der Zwan succumbed to her grievous injuries onsite. Right from the very off, however, Richardson fans mounted a steadfast defense of Richardson’s actions. Even with Watchdog linking directly to realtime articles as they were published, Richardson fans adamantly insisted that the lion who committed the fatal mauling was a wild animal. Despite that Richardson himself had admitted during one of his own videos posted shortly before the incident that he felt as though his lions, if faced with a stranger, might well attack that stranger, fans insisted that it couldn’t have been one of Richardson’s lions. Even after it was repeatedly confirmed that the lion was, in fact, one of Richardson’s animals, fans insisted that the young women had to have done something wrong, had to have broken the rules and put themselves in danger. When Richardson himself, issued the only statement about the incident he’s made to date, stating that the lioness had chased a gazelle for a full mile and a half, where she “encountered the young woman outside her vehicle” fans of the “Lion Whisperer” took it as validation that the dead young woman had caused her own demised by exiting her vehicle when she should not have.

Watchdog was not so easily duped by the self-serving account of Richardson, who has managed to build an entire career out of exploiting lions in the name of conserving them. Writers like Artemis Grey, who have long questioned the ethics of intentionally interacting with big cats, as Richardson does, were also not swayed by the misleading statements made by Richardson and his supporters. Two months later, we remain both unswayed, and unimpressed by the way Richardson has “gone to ground”, refusing to address the suffering endured by the families of both the young women whose lives were sundered and irrevocably changed by his own actions. While Richardson has completely withdrawn, he’s allowed those who manage his social media sites to issue statements repeatedly which attempt to garner sympathy for the “Lion Whisperer” during this “trying time”.

While van der Zwan’s family laid their daughter to rest, Richardson’s Facebook posted saying that the past week had “been a traumatic time for everyone.” And that they wanted to assure that “Obviously being out in the open in any Reserve carries personal risk”.

When Watchdog continued to post notes, etc. reminding readers that the young women were not, in fact “out in the open” on any Reserve at all, the manager of Richardson’s social media pages took to various groups slandering us, and accusing us of having ulterior motives and personal vendettas against Richardson. Artemis Grey confided in us that she, too, had been notified by multiple people, that Richardson’s page manager was trash-talking her.

Shortly thereafter, Richardson’s pages began posting references to “successful” release projects such as that of several spotted hyenas. The definition of “successful” remains up for debate, as it has not been confirmed by uninvolved parties that the hyenas are functioning without outside help.

As the investigations into Richardson’s sanctuary, and his own actions remain ongoing, his page manager continues to grasp at straws, even contriving absurd, and anthropomorphized conversations between Richardson and his animals. The inane one-liners aside, these falsely humanizing portrayals of captive wild animals are the perfect representation of all that’s wrong with the public’s perception of wild animals in general. Wild animals–captive, or not–are every bit as worthy of life, and rights, as humans.

But they are not human.

To construe wild animals as thinking in human terms, acting in human terms, or emoting in human fashion is how Megan van der Zwan got fatally mauled in the first place.

Kevin Richardson became famous the world over, not for his work in the active conservation of wild-roaming lions, but for “becoming one of the pride” and directly interacting with his privately owned captive lions. Never mind that those lions aren’t actually a “pride” at all, but rather living in several small groups of two and three animals. The point is, Richardson’s perceived ability to interact with his lions as if he were a lion, and they were human, is what’s made him who he is. Not respect for lions as they are in the wild, but rather, lions as they are with Richardson riding them around like ponies, lounging on them as if they were living pillows, and playing with them as if they were oversized domestic house cats.

The idealized fantasy of a lion, is what Richardson has built his mythos around, the reality of a lion, is what happened to Megan van der Zwan.

Two months out from Megan’s death, it’s unclear just what Richardson’s future holds for him, and his “bigger than life” persona as the “Lion Whisperer” but the future for Megan’s family, and that of her unnamed friend and her family, is much more obvious. Their’s is a future of struggle.

A struggle to adjust to life without the presence of someone who should still be with them.

A struggle to redeem the name of their dead and traumatized loved ones, from that of a “foolish tourists” to that of “innocent victims”.

A struggle to understand why the man responsible for the death and traumatization of those loved ones, is still being celebrated for the actions which resulted in their deaths and trauma.

Her Name Was Megan

Her Name Was Megan

Some twelve days ago, a 22 year-old-woman was mauled to death by a hand-raised lion belonging to the famed “Lion Whisperer” Kevin Richardson.

Her name was Megan. Megan van der Zwan.

That matters.

It matters more than the fact that the “Lion Whisperer’s reputation is now in question.

It matters more than the fact that the “Lion Whisperer’s” TAG Heuer ad campaign got cancelled.

It matters more than the fact that the “Lion Whisperer’s sanctuary is now involved in an investigation.

Her name was Megan, and she’s dead.

Her family is still struggling to come to terms with losing her, not that the media cares very much. In the days since Megan’s untimely and savage death, there was an immediate rush of interest, primarily in the fact that the famed “Lion Whisperer” had failed to control one of his lions, followed by days of radio silence. Then, just before and right after Megan’s funeral on Friday, two articles appeared, short, and devoid of any functional conversation about what actually happened.

One of the articles contained misinformation (that “Kevin” said the women were outside the camp, he has not ever said that) while the other was more interested in how Megan’s family was “dealing with” her death, the answer which of course, is that they aren’t dealing well at all. Their child is dead. That speaks for itself.

What’s not being spoken of is how all of this happened. How did a lion wind up in the direct proximity of two innocent young women in a location which is supposedly secure enough to house guests that pay to stay there? How was that lion comfortable enough with humans and human structures to approach the area without hesitation?

The answer is Kevin Richardson, himself. The conservation community just doesn’t have the fortitude to own up to that fact, and to discuss it in depth. In fact, proponents of Richardson within the conservation community are actually counseling that the community avoid discussing the fact that Richardson’s choice to create the mythos of the “Lion Whisperer” and promote his handling of his lions directly led to the death of Megan van der Zwan, because, as they put it “emotions are too high”.

Emotions are too high?

There was just another school shooting in America, and do you know who’s refusing to discuss gun control because emotions are too high? Pro-gun factions. It’s a classic stalling tactic.

Right now, even the most devoted “Lion Whisperer” fans are having a hard time coming up with valid arguments as to why it’s perfectly acceptable for Richardson to handle his lions after such handling resulted in Megan’s death. Therefore, they’re taking a subject that’s been discreetly brushed aside and intentionally avoided for years, and setting it aside yet again with the excuse that “emotions are too high” to discuss it. Strange, since before a young woman was mauled to death, attempts at discussing why it’s a bad idea for anyone to promote the handling of captive wild animals, no matter who they are, were brushed off as the attempt of a few “jealous” groups or individuals who “didn’t understand” how Richardson, and those like him, “operate”.

So it’s up to CWW, and anyone else willing to have the discussion about hands-on conservation versus hands-off conservation to pursue the issue. Especially since Richardson himself is refusing to talk about any of it. While one of the most recent two articles cites a statement from Richardson’s Facebook page, they aren’t actually quoting Richardson, but rather, the lay-person who runs his social media accounts. The only direct public statement Richardson has made about Megan’s death didn’t have to do with her, so much as himself.

“Myself and an experienced colleague took three lions walking in the Reserve, as we do on a weekly basis, as part of their exercise and stimulation regiment. We assessed the landscape for other big 5 animals and as per procedure sent out a notification that we were walking in the reserve. One of the lionesses charged off after an Impala and must have run 2,0 to 2,5km where she encountered the 22-year-old outside the car”

“I am devastated and my heart goes out to this young woman’s family.”

This is, as of the time of the drafting of this article, the only public statement Kevin Richardson has made about Megan’s death, or the mauling. It was only issued after some 24hrs of careful consideration to wording and presentation.

I took my lions out as I always do. I made sure there were no wild animals in the area, and I told my employees that I was taking my lions out. I’m devastated, and I feel badly for the other people dealing with this mess.

A simple rewording brings the actual content of Richardson’s statement forward to showcase just how self-serving and self-centered the statement is. And the most prominent thing missing from Richardson’s so carefully worded statement?

An apology.

You see, you can’t apologize for something without admitting guilt for it in at least some capacity. And Richardson can’t afford to publicly admit guilt without opening himself up for legal repercussions, both civil, and possibly criminal. Watchdog maintains the stipulation that Richardson did not want Megan to be injured or killed, just as we stipulate that Richardson feels terrible that she’s dead. However, the fact that Richardson recognized the tenuousness of his situation so profoundly as to wait 24hrs before issuing a public statement, and then wording that statement so cautiously as to avoid even apologizing to Megan’s family in order to also avoid anything that could be construed as an admittance of guilt that might be used against him later tells you where Richardson’s concern lay. And it wasn’t with the family of the dead young woman, or with the surviving young woman who is now dealing with the repercussions of having watched as her friend was killed.

Take a moment and let that sink in. Even less considered in this mess than Megan, who was killed by Richardson’s lioness, is her as-of-yet-unnamed friend. This second young woman was laughing and talking with Megan one moment, and then in the next moment found herself watching as Megan was torn apart alive by a lion. Graphic, we know. That’s precisely why we’re offering readers this gentle reminder of just how devastating this event was for the victims.

Watchdog has been accused of “exploiting” this situation for our own purposes. Our focus, however, is on the young women who suffered in this attack. One of them is dead, and the other irrevocably traumatized by witnessing the fatal mauling of her friend.

These women are the victims of a broken conservation system.

A broken system that Watchdog was founded to rail against. And we will continue to do so. Megan and her surviving friend will not have suffered in vain. They will not be forgotten, we will make sure of it.

The Tragedy Of Reality

The Tragedy Of Reality

Yesterday morning, Watchdog made a post about the tragic fatal mauling of a young woman which took place at the sanctuary of the famed “Lion Whisperer” Kevin Richardson. Our post was based both on firsthand, confidential information we were given by persons present in the immediate area of Kevin’s sanctuary, as well as statements made by officials of the Dinokeng Game Reserve. Despite these firsthand facts, our post was met with disbelief and anger. Some people chose to unfollow our page, while others defended Richardson, insisting that it must have been a wild lion who carried out the attack. Throughout the day Kevin Richardson fans continued to present outrage that we would dare attack the sovereignty of the “Lion Whisperer”.

Today, those fans, and conservationists awoke to a changed world, as far as dreamy, idealistic “becoming one of the pride” illusions are concerned.

Kevin Richardson himself has now made a public statement admitting that one of his hand-raised lions–one of the lions who “accepted” him as “one of the pride” in his own words–left Richardson while he was “walking” her on the Dinokeng Game Reserve. That lioness returned to Richardson’s sanctuary alone where she fatally mauled a young woman. The deceased young woman was accompanying a friend who was interviewing the manager of Richardson’s posh “bush camp”.

Richardson’s distress at this young woman’s death is doubtlessly earnest. However, it’s clear by his very careful public statement that Richardson and his team are already working toward damage control. Richardson’s brief statement gently supplants the understanding that he “sent out a notice” that he’d be walking lions, alluding to the fact that somehow two young women visiting Welgedacht for only a few hours should have known to expect that a lion habituated to human contact might ambush them if they got out of a vehicle to take photos.

Let’s begin by listing some verified facts, many of which the public might not be aware of.

1. When the “Lion Whisperer” produces those dramatic videos of himself walking his lions he’s not actually at his sanctuary, or on Welgedacht where his sanctuary is located. Not most of the time. Although there is a large “central enclosure” on Welgedacht where the cats are rotated on a weekly basis, Richardson also takes lions from that location, and out onto the expanse of the Dinokeng Game Reserve (DGR) where they can run and “be lions” for a while.

2. These “lion walks” have caused problems with the wild lions on DGR more than once. Watchdog’s contacts, who live adjacent to DGR, have told us that the wild lions have been pushed aside by the encroachment of Richardson’s captive lions.

3. Behavioral changes have been noted in the wild lions of DGR, in response to the presence of Richardson’s lions, and the scent marks and spore they leave behind on their “enrichment walks”. It’s also known that the wild lions can approach, and have approached the captive lions on Richardson’s sanctuary, which only provokes more troubling behavior on the part of the wild lions. Richardson has never made a public statement on how he would react should any of these wild lions confront his own lions while walking on DGR.

4. Multiple complaints about the impact that Richardson’s lions have on the existing pride of wild lions have been swept under the rug so far. Our contacts believe this is due to Richardson’s prominence, but they remained justifiably outraged by his continued pressure on the wild lions. Remember, Richardson claims to be handling his lions in order to protect wild lions, but by taking his own lions into the territory of a wild pride, he’s repeatedly creating stress on that wild population.

5. Despite the widespread belief that “no one but Kevin interacts with his lions or other animals” this simply IS NOT TRUE. One only needs to research Richardson’s “volunteer” program to discover a vastly different reality. “Volunteer” is a misnomer, as the “volunteers” pay thousands of dollars for the right to “volunteer” at Richardson’s reserve. And the #1 draw? The chance to “walk with Kevin and his lions when they go for enrichment”. Review after review lists the highlight of the “volunteer’s” trip to be “getting to walk with Kevin and his lions”. * Because there has been some confusion as to whether or not volunteers literally walk on the ground with Richardson, we are adding this clarification. “Walking with Kevin” refers to volunteers riding in an open-topped vehicle alongside Richardson and his lions. This offers them little to no protection, should the lions choose to attack, but it does keep volunteers off the ground. However, volunteers who “walk” with Richardson are allowed to feed the lions they “walk” with by hand. This constitutes direct interaction, and also habituates the lions to associate vehicles and the people in them with food rewards.

6. The “bush camp” where the young woman was killed is on Welgedacht, though it’s not been made clear which bush camp it was. Richardson recently opened a second “bush camp”. According to Constable Connie Moganedi, the victim had accompanied a friend who was working on a school project and “When they were about to leave, the lioness attacked the young lady.” Moganedi stated that the pair were walking to their car when a lioness attacked from behind. *We originally reported her that the young women had gotten out of their car to take photos. We have updated our article to reflect the latest information as it is released.

Remember, these women were only visiting Richardson’s sanctuary briefly, and weren’t privy to any of his “notices” about the fact that he was walking lions.

As we said in our post yesterday, Watchdog was founded to expose the exploitation of Black Jaguar White Tiger, but we have never shied away from publicly criticizing Kevin Richardson for his continued role in exploiting his own animals, and for influencing people like Serio to follow in his footsteps. Fans of Richardson often become irate when we make comparisons between the “Lion Whisperer” and Serio, yet the facts speak for themselves. Even details like the arrangement of Richardson’s sanctuary, with cats living in smaller enclosures, with a central enrichment area where they’re rotated on a weekly basis is mimicked by Serio in his own setup. Groups like I.C.A.R.U.S. Inc. have also written about this, and I.C.A.R.U.S. Inc. member Artemis Grey continues to be outspoken against Richardson and his behavior.

Richardson out "walking" his captive lions.

These truths are hard pills for diehard Richardson fans to swallow, but that doesn’t make them untrue. Even now, Richardson’s Facebook page is being swamped with comments supporting Richardson, and condemning the innocent dead woman, blaming her entirely for causing the incident. Richardson himself set up this reaction by stating that he’d “given notice” that he was taking out some of his lions. Well, to quote someone defending Richardson on a post yesterday, let’s tuck in to some “reality sandwiches”.

Reality Sandwich: Wild lions have been recorded traveling as far as 31 miles a day. The entirety of the Welgedacht is about 3,000 acres, or about 4.5 miles, and Richardson’s lions do not have the run of all of that land.

Reality Sandwich: A “classic” wild lion pride consists of 2-12 female lions and their cubs, and 1-6 adult male lions. Despite that Richardson repeatedly states he’s “Been accepted into the pride.” his own lions don’t actually live or function as a pride. They live in separate enclosures, and are walked only in small sets of two or three not as a real pride.

Reality Sandwich: The only consistent threat to a pride of wild lions (aside from humans) is other lions. The invasion of other prides, or prideless lions is an extreme stress factor for wild lions. It’s been regularly documented that dominant males will become so short-tempered as to lash out at their own females and cubs when also dealing with threats from outside lions. Richardson imposes foreign lions on the existing wild lions of Dinokeng every single time he chooses to “walk” his lions inside the established territory of the Dinokeng’s wild lions.

Reality Sandwich: It’s a long-accepted scientific fact that wild animals which have been habituated to humans and human contact are at a hugely increased risk for conflict, both fatal and nonfatal, with humans. Richardson’s lions have been hand-raised, and are completely habituated to human presence, yet Richardson intentionally takes them into a wild setting where they are completely uncontrolled, and unconfined. As Dinokeng is open to the public, Richardson’s lions could potentially run afoul other human visitors anywhere in the reserve.

Reality Sandwich: A lion is an ambush predator, which generally stalks prey to within 30 meters or less, or about 98 feet. The average success rate of a lion ambush is only around 30%, and lions simply do not possess the stamina to chase prey for more than 200 meters or about 650 feet at the most. Richardson’s public announcement states that the lioness responsible for yesterday’s fatal attack “charged off after an Impala and must have run 2,0 to 2,5km where she encountered the 22-year-old outside the car.” So, Richardson, whom is touted as a leading expert in lions, is claiming that one of his lionesses chased prospective prey for 1.5 miles–that’s some 2,400 meters, and ended up near a young woman, who she then attacked. We only have Richardson’s account of the incident, but that’s some amazing stamina.

Reality Sandwich: Hundreds of humans are injured by, and dozens of humans are killed by, captive wild animals every year, world wide. Interaction between captive wild animals and humans is dangerous, and usually results in bad outcome. Richardson’s lions, hyenas, and other animals are captive wild animals, and for all his mythic reputation, Richardson is fundamentally no different from anyone else who owns captive wild animals.

Reality Sandwich: When it comes down to it, the key words are “captive” and “wild”, a paradoxical description of animals which can never be truly wild, but will also never be completely tame. Outside of containment, Richardson has no more control over his lions than he would have over an actual wild lion. Had he been standing directly beside this young woman when the lioness chose to attack her, he could not have stopped the attack from taking place.

Biggest, Rankest Reality Sandwich: Kevin Richardson is not a lion. He’s just another human making a living off the animals in his care, and just like any other human exploiting captive wild animals, eventually something was going to go wrong.

No one is happy this happened. We at Watchdog, as well as Artemis Grey, whom we’ve spoken to about this incident, would have been perfectly happy to go our entire lives disapproving of Kevin Richardson and his behavior, without ever having our disproval validated. But it has been validated. All of our concerns about Kevin’s revered “bond” and his use of that mythos have come to fruition. The manifestation of that fruition is the tragic, needless death of a young woman. A young woman who, we might add, was tagging along with a friend specifically so she could experience the wonders of the “Lion Whisperer” she obviously admired.

So, what’s next? What will we learn from this tragedy? From this irrefutable proof that the “Lion Whisperer” possess no more influence over the lions in his care than that which can be affected through conditioning and control? For those of us who always expected (but hoped against) an outcome like this, nothing will change. We will continue to speak out against the exploitation of captive wild animals. We will continue to patiently explain to the public that you can’t teach someone not to do something by doing it yourself.

For the famed “Lion Whisperer” the future is less certain. Famous now for something very different than “being one of the pride” Richardson is facing an investigation not only from local authorities, but also undoubtedly from the authorities who control the Dinokeng Game Reserve. If the DGR chooses to rescind permission for Richardson to walk his lions openly on DGR land, where will he make his adored videos, commercial, fashion shoots, and other media?

Photo taken from the ad campaign Richardson participated in for Dutch menswear label Van Gils

Then there’s Richardson’s upcoming movie “Charlie the White Lion” to consider. Set for release in the next year or so, the movie, directed by Gilles de Maistre, has been creating a huge stir within distribution companies, all eager to capitalize on the profit to be had by pairing lions and children. De Maistre tweeted links just a day before this fatal mauling which showcased bidding wars and excitement over the film.

Screenshot taken from the Instagram account of Gilles de Maistre

A primary factor in the desirableness of the movie? The fact that it contains no CGI, and that real lions, and real children really interacted together in the production.

Lions which Richardson personally helped procure specifically for the purpose of making a movie with children that’s supposed to teach people not to interact with lions. Children which Richardson personally selected to make a movie with lions that’s supposed to teach people not to interact with lions.

Lions and children which Richardson personally taught to directly interact with each other in order to make a movie that’s supposed to teach people not to interact with lions.

One can only wonder if those who choose to screen the movie will grasp that it was made possible by a man who valued his own persona more than he valued the lives of the public who upheld him as the mythical “Lion Whisperer” and the lives of the lions forced to perform for his profit?