Kevin Richardson

Kevin Rene Richardson born 8 October 1974 known as The Lion Whisperer is a South African YouTube personality wildlife conservationist and selftaught sanctuary owner who works with African lions black leopards spotted hyenas and striped hyenas Kevin Richardson was born in the Nightingale Clinic in Johannesburg South Africa on the 8th of October 1974 He spent his childhood in the neighbourhood of Orange Grove His mother Patricia worked for Barclays Bank and was also born in South Africa Richardsons 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 selftaught behaviourist 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 twentythree he had the opportunity to work as a handler and cared for two sixmonthold lion cubs Tau and Napoleon which he later rescued His early years took place at the Lion Park near the outskirts of his home in Johannesburg He still runs with the now full grown cubs in the wild The facility owner Rodney Fuhr started him off with a parttime 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 Richardson worked within a 650 hectares 1600 acres Lion Park in Broederstroom a town 35 miles north of his hometown Johannesburg in South Africa Whilst primarily specializing in lions he has also interacted with hyenas and black panthers The park which was set up with the help of Rodney Fuhr is 800 hectares 2000 acres and was built for the set of the 2010 movie White Lion Richardson cares for thirtynine lions at this facility As of 2011 the facility was private but there were plans to open it to the public The sanctuarys Web site said in 2020 that it was open for guided group tours and had a volunteering program In 2015 the Kevin Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary relocated to Welgedacht Private Game Reserve near Pretoria He has slept next to fed and lived with lions He has also 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 Source Article Kevin Richardson zookeeper from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30