Kevin Richardson (zookeeper)

Early life

Kevin Richardson was born in the Nightingale Clinic on 8 October 1974 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He spent his childhood in the neighbourhood of Orange Grove. His mother, Patricia, worked for Barclays Bank and was also born in South Africa. Richardson's father, who worked for a pharmaceutical company, was born in the United Kingdom and moved to South Africa from Reading, Berkshire. Kevin Richardson is the youngest of four children: he has an older brother and two sisters who are twins. His father died when Richardson was thirteen years old. When he was about sixteen, he met Stan Schmidt and began his career as a "self-taught behaviourist."

Career

Richardson went to college and studied zoology, but quit following two years of repetitive lessons on marine biology instead of mammals. As an adult, Richardson believed that he would never have a career working with animals and that it would remain a hobby of his. He started taking courses in physiology and anatomy in college and started a career in exercise physiology. and became an exercise physiologist. When he was twenty-three, he had the opportunity to work with two six-month-old lion cubs, Tau and Napoleon, at the Lion Park near the outskirts of his home in Johannesburg. He still works with the grown cubs. The facility owner, Rodney Fuhr, started him off with a part-time job at the Lion Park.

Richardson and his team work with animals for the commercial filming industry and make documentaries to generate income to fund the facility. They also have a volunteer programme which generates income and volunteers who help to run the sanctuary.

Facilities

Richardson worked in a 1600-acre Lion Park in Broederstroom, a town 35 miles north of his hometown, Johannesburg, in South Africa. While specializing in lions, he also interacted with hyenas and leopards. He spent the first part of his lion career at the Lion Park before moving to the Kingdom of the White Lion. Richardson has a special facility called the Kingdom of the White Lion in Broederstroom. The park, which was set up with the help of Rodney Fuhr, is 800 hectares (2,000 acres) and was built for the set of the movie White Lion. Richardson cares for thirty-nine lions at this facility. Currently, the facility is private, but there are plans to open it to the public.

As of 2015, the Kevin Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary relocated to Welgedacht Private Game Reserve near Pretoria.

Lion care

Richardson has worked with big cats and relies on intuition rather than static rules. He has slept next to, fed, and lived with lions. Along with lions, he has worked with cheetahs, leopards, and hyenas. He prefers lions to any other big cat. His relationship with the animals, however, has not been an instant one. He has known all of the lions he works with since they were cubs. He still continues his bond with Tau and Napoleon, the lion brothers who were his introduction to big cats.

Richardson rejects the traditional notion that lions should be mastered and dominated, preferring to develop a relationship over time, based on love and respect. "A lion is not a possession; it's a sentient being, so you must pay attention and develop your bond like with any relationship."

Dangers

Richardson has been scratched, punctured and bitten but never in a malicious way. Richardson is not dissuaded by these dangers. In an interview, he mentions, "Obviously one realizes the danger when working with animals of this calibre, I've weighed the pros and I've weighed the cons, and the pros far outweigh the cons." He warns about following in his footsteps, however. All the pictures of his adventures do not portray his years of experience and bonding. "People like to take things out of context. They don't know the relationship I have with this lion." As a rule, Richardson only interacts with lions he has been with since their birth. Richardson also differentiates his work from that of professional zoologists interacting with completely wild animals they have not raised, or that of trainers whose animals are required to perform on stage day after day.

The lion population in Africa has dropped from about 350,000 to an estimated 25,000 during a fifteen-year-span. Richardson hopes the media attention of his movies will raise public awareness and educate them on the need to protect and conserve Africa's animals. Lion hunts in South Africa garner more than 90 million dollars (£60 million) a year according to the Professional Hunters Association. Between September 2006-September 2007, 16,394 foreign hunters (more than half of whom fly from the U.S.) killed 46,000+ animals. Trophy hunting is worth $91.2 million a year and foreign tourists sometimes pay up to $40,000 to shoot a lion. The government supports hunting because of this revenue and the provincial governments sell permits to kill rhinoceroses, lions, elephants, and giraffes. 1,050 lions were killed in 2008. White Lion hopes to give people second thoughts about participating in these events.

Works/publications

Richardson has been featured in many documentaries, movies, and commercials. It was during his stint at the Lion Park that Michael Rosenberg decided to use Richardson's talents in documentaries such as Dangerous Companions and In Search of a Legend. Growing Up Hyena is a documentary in which Richardson sets out to change the misconception of the hyena as a feared and loathed scavenger. Richardson's work in the Okavango Delta and Lydenberg had brought forth the documentary concerning black leopards entitled, In Search of a Legend. Because of the frequency of filming, Richardson moved all of the animals to one facility at the Kingdom of the White Lion property.

Richardson's 2010 documentary is entitled White Lion: Home is a Journey. The film is about a young white lion named, "Letsatsi," who survives against all odds. This film is the first to star native lions instead of the regularly imported ones. Rodney Fuhr and his wife, Ilana, independently funded the movie and served as executive producers. The film was shot at the Kingdom of the White Lion, SA Lion Park, Nash's farm, Glen Afric, and Entabeni Game Reserve. The South African-based company Peru Productions Pty. Ltd.'s first feature film was White Lion.

"Go Pro: Lions - The New Endangered Species?"

"GoPro: Lions - The New Endangered Species?" is a short documentary, that was released 20 November 2013 in conjunction with Kevin Richardson and the high definition digital camera manufacturer. The film was created exclusively as a part of GoPro’s nine-part adventure series promoting the HERO 3+ camera. A team of videographers documented Richardson’s interactions with hand-reared lions and spotted hyenas near Pretoria, South Africa The film exemplifies Richardson’s unique relationship with the animals and attempts to create a platform of understanding their distinct personalities.

The video primarily depicts Richardson’s unorthodox relationship with a pride of lions where he is ‘intensively’ familiar with each member and claims to connect with them individually as he would with a human. The video shows several shots of Richardson hugging, kissing, and petting the lions While the lions affectionately play with Richardson, they still respond aggressively to the videographers. Richardson has more intimate relationships with two lions, which he named Meg and Aimee The documentary explains his relationship with the two lions since their birth and how he saved them from drowning after their mother abandoned them in a nearby river Richardson discussed this incident with the videographers,

The film also describes Richardson’s relationship with spotted hyenas native to South Africa. Richardson communicates affectionately the logistics and differences between lions and spotted hyenas. He comments on the strict hierarchy in a clan of hyenas as well as his own standing within specific clans. He goes on to defend hyenas when he rejects the prejudice that they are aggressive scavengers when he describes the mammal as misunderstood and calls out individual hyenas as “loving”, “friendly”, “gorgeous”, and with having a “lovely personality.” Richardson admits that when he first came in contact with hyenas he did not know what he was getting into however goes on to explain the joy they have contributed to his life. Throughout the short film Richardson brings attention to the contemporary issues and consequences surrounding the loss of wildlife habitats in South Africa.

Personal life

Richardson is married and has two children. His wife Mandy is marketing manager of both the lion park and Richardson. They have a son, Tyler, born in 2009, and a daughter, Jessica, born in July 2013.