Older lions and tigers

Here are some photos (and updates) of some of the older lions at Seaview Lion Park that you may have looked after if you were a volunteer here.

8 July 2012

Tom & Noam: The big boys are proving to be some of the most special of all, and steal the hearts of everyone who has the opportunity to come in for a hug. Tom and Noam were very busy lately with the Boomer Balls visiting their enclosure, with Tom absolutely loving the big red shiny ball, chasing it down the hill and rolling in the grass with it. Noam was a bit more reserved, and followed Tom around watching. Noam has grown into the much calmer of the 2, as Tom becomes a little naughty from time to time. The volunteers has been busy rebuilding their platform, seeing as they desperately miss the one they broke, so once it’s up we’ll post pics for all to see!

Carrie and Ofir: We still visit these beautiful sisters once a week, and Carrie is calming down while Fufa is much friendlier and relaxed. They are very easy to tell apart with Carrie still an orange lion and sweet face, and Fufa with her beautiful shaped eyes. It won’t be long until they are fully grown, as the girls turned 2 years old in April this year.

Birthday Boys Cliff and Riley: We would like to say a big Happy Birthday to Sir Cliff and Riley who were 3 years old on the 5th of July. Congrats to the big boys who are still so affectionate when we pass by to say hello, and share their food very nicely with Preston and Max who have become brothers to them.

Below, Adam and Jagger in their new home – aged 1 (August 2011). They were born on the 10 August 2010.

Adam and Jagger – 8 November 2011: These boys are getting very big now, but still love it when we come to visit them. They continue to impress us with how dark and long their manes are compared to the other boys that are older than them. Even though they are so big, they still act like two naughty little boys. When we feed them, they always play with their food first before they start eating.

Below, Adam and Jagger checking out the new platform (29 August ’11)

Coby and Skyla – born in Seaview on 23 December 2010 (pictured below).

Gorgeous little Skyla (18 Jan 2011)

: Skyla and Coby as of 12 January 2011

Skyla (Nov ’11)

: Coby (Nov ’11)

Preston (23 August 2011)

Noam, Carrie, Tom and Ofir (Fufa) – Born April 2010

The cubs at about 2 months

The big 4 watching a plane go over the farm, from left to right, Noam, Fufa, Carrie & Tom. (Photo May 2011: Catie Cartwright)

The boys – all big and beautiful (August 2011)

Below, Ofir (Fufa) and Carrie (August 2011)

Shaka, Mika & Mona – born July 2011 (pictured below)

Sho Sho & Faye – born December 2009
Above, Sho Sho and Faye at about 3/4 weeks old

Below, Sho Sho the Magnificent (Photo: Delano Mulder – August 2011)

Not only brother and sister, but best mates too! (Aug 2011)

21 December 2011:

Sasha & the lionesses: They are doing very well. Shanon and Imani calmed down quite a bit. They still push Sasha out of the way when we come to say hello, but they are not as feisty as before and we do get a chance to greet her. We can definitely see that Erin and Melissa are Bob’s girls – they are much darker, and although they are about a year younger than Shanon and Imani, they stand up just as tall. Sasha, Erin and Melisa still share their special bond, but lately the lionesses can often be seen sitting by the fence, while Sash is under a tree. We are still in the process of working with Sasha, going in with her and getting her used to us once again, and so far it’s been going great!

Adult Tigers: Luca has calmed down quite a bit, and on feeding days no longer charges the fence as often. Lately it is not unusual to catch him and Lacy walking down the fence line, “froofing” to the tourists. Marinka has also completely settled down in her enclosure and seems very happy there. Whenever there are people around, she runs straight up to greet them. Although she is the older one, she is much cheekier than her daughter Sasha that lives on the other side of the fence!

White Boys: Even since Mkulu has the enclosure to himself, he has matured a lot. Usually he hides behind the bushes when you walk past, and only peeks over by tilting his head sideways, making him look even more goofy. He does not come up to the fence to say hello anymore and looks quite comfortable keeping to himself. Jorgan has also settled in to his new home. Earlier this year he was relocated after the 3 boys that shared his enclosure started bulling him – for his own benefit we decided to move him out and into a separate enclosure. At first he seemed quite timid being in a new place all on his own, but slowly he gained all his weight and confidence back, and now he is a very impressive big boy.

The 3 White Girls: They are doing very well; they are still naughty babies with a lot of energy, and you can see them running around and playing with each other quite often. We had a really hot day a few weeks ago and we decided to treat the girls with a blood lolly. It was the first time they got one and they loved it! Initially Eve appeared confused by the huge lolly that was dropped in, but she soon joined Lottie and Jodica and all three shared nicely!

27 September 2011: The girls (Melissa, Erin and co) got fed a whole carcass this week. The 4 lionesses starting feeding off it straight away while Sasha stood still next to Ashley who was in the enclosure with them as part of Sasha’s rehab plan to get her comfortable with human presence again. This time Ashley actually got to pet her properly.

20 September 2011: The boys (Preston, Max and co) got fed a whole carcass last week and were having fun with it. Max and Preston started eating straight away, taking over the whole rump of the cow; Zulu found a spot and wouldn’t give it up until he got distracted by us watching him and came to say hello; Riley just tried to eat from whatever part available, ending up with eating the head and Cliff seemed to be so full from the last feeding that he wasn’t bothered about eating and was just rolling around playing with his food.

20 September: After Sasha’s tragic childhood of losing her tiger sister and gaining two lion sisters – which meant an early separation from us, the handlers – we decided to try and work with her again. Last week we went in with her for the first time in 18 months- we closed all lionesses in the small area and walked in. Sasha seemed very interested in us and kept coming over. Ashley even got to touch her a few short times. Her reaction to us after such a long while was so good that Seaview staff decided to try and work with her again to make her life at the park a bit more fun and interesting.

12 September 2011: The bond between Sasha, Erin and Melissa is stronger than ever (see photos below) and they are all doing very well. Shannon and Imani are getting better and now when you come to say hello, the three younger girls stand their ground and you are able to greet them as well. Usually when they get fed, the lionesses are closed in the small area and Sasha is left outside to be feed on her own as Shannon and Imani wouldn’t share. Last week on feeding day, Melissa wouldn’t leave Sasha’s side and we ended up feeding them both on the outside — they shared nicely just as they used to do when they were babies. For the story on how these three came to be united, check out the story here.

Sasha and Erin are still best buddies (Sept 11)

Sasha and Erin – with Melissa on the grass (Sept 11)

12 September 2011: Preston and the rest of the boys are HUGE! Preston is still the biggest and darkest one and still stares at you while licking his lips when you sit next to him. Max’s mane is growing back but it is like he is almost blond so in 1st glance you might confuse him with Riley. Cliff is also very impressive – his mane goes all the way down his belly and he seems to be much bigger than his 2 brothers. Riley is still the smallest one out of the bunch but is catching up with the rest of them. Zulu is also looking big with a nice dark mane growing. Character-wise they haven’t changed: Riley is the baby one, Cliff does his own thing, Zulu is still naughty and jumps at you the minute you move, Max still look overly-excited and Preston just stares.

23 August 2011 – Preston, Macsen, Cliff, Riley and Zulu.
These 5 boys are really big now, especially Max and Preston — the size difference between them and the other three boys is very noticeable. They are weighing in about 180-200kg now. They are being fed once a week on a Sunday with the rest of the lions now. But they haven’t lost their loving touch and if they see us or hear us they jump up and come running and still behave like very big babies, especially Max. They are now just over two-years of age.

Riley (22 August 2011)

Preston (22 August 2011)

Noam and Tom (August 2011)

Fufa and Carrie (August 2011)

8 August: Erin, Melissa and Sasha are enjoying the new eye candy presented by Adam and Jagger who have moved in across the road. The girls are now all around two years old and are still getting along well despite Sasha’s stripes. Earlier this week the girls were playing the “how close can I get to the electric fence” game, Sasha (sensibly) sat safely at back while the lionesses tried to push each other into it.