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  • 1 week ago
Thor’s pride is on the move again, and Kevin Richardson explains exactly why these lions are relocated instead of left in one place. As the group is prepared for a new camp, he answers the social media question that keeps coming up: do these lions live in a cage or in the loading vehicle? The answer is no — the vehicle is only used temporarily to move the animals safely from camp to camp.

The video follows a practical lion moving day at the sanctuary, where Kevin uses his relationship with the animals to guide them without sedation. He talks about giving lions a better quality of life through new environments, fresh sensory experiences, and space to walk and explore. Thor’s group, including Jabari and Niche, proves more challenging than usual, with shifting dynamics and moments of tension as the lions are loaded and relocated.

Along the way, Kevin also reflects on how older lions can become less willing to move, and why familiar routines matter so much to them. The result is a calm but revealing wildlife commentary about lion behavior, animal care, and the realities of sanctuary management.

For viewers searching for lion sanctuary videos, big cat relocation, Kevin Richardson the Lion Whisperer, wildlife documentary commentary, animal behavior, and behind-the-scenes lion care, this is a grounded look at how and why lions are moved. It also fits searches for wildlife education, big cat rescue, and nature content focused on lions in a sanctuary setting.

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Animals
Transcript
00:00a few questions arising why do I move the lines around I move the lines around
00:08to give them a quality of life but wait boy wait wait I move them around so that
00:14they can change environments and they can experience new areas all right good
00:22morning good morning good morning guys today we're going to be moving some of
00:27the lines around those who are willing and wanting to participate the group
00:34that is really really in desperate need of a move is Thor's group the largest
00:40group of lines six individuals four females two females and they are rearing
00:46to go oh Charlie Charlie Brown where we're moving them to we're going to be
00:52moving them to the camp which opens up onto the this big camp which is what we
00:58refer to as a walking camp a nice big area 50 hectares and yeah that's where they
01:08can go and walk and get rid of the energy and just get to do what lions get to do
01:18so I will be explaining details as we go about it because we have had some
01:25questions recently asking why do we move the lions why is it that I see you
01:31putting these lions in the back of that vehicle and do they live in that vehicle
01:35so some people actually think that the lions live in the back of the moving truck
01:42so I think this does warrant a little bit of explanation and for those of you who
01:47know my journey who have followed my journey and and know the lions intimately
01:53forgive me if I sound like I'm repeating myself but there are people out there
01:58who are new to the channel and or come across the video for the first time and
02:03they don't actually understand what's going on who is this crazy guy why is he
02:09moving lions or why is he keeping lions in the back of a cage crazy crazy so yeah I
02:16think everything is about context and context is key so let's give some context
02:23as to why we are doing what we do morning George good thanks need me to move my car
02:33I see you testing my driving skills I should be able to do you think so yeah
02:39no no no I'll move I don't trust you clearly check that he thinks he's gonna
02:46fit in there he probably will but I think let's rather be safe than sorry all right
02:54thoughts a little bit grumpy this morning especially with Jabari don't you love our
03:04new locks so nice crisp new locks no more no more lock struggles guys it's the little things
03:19that level where oh yeah yeah
03:38yeah
03:45okay
03:51okay we have to lock him away because everyone is a little bit nervous to be around him at the
03:57moment no no no no no wait boy wait wait
04:11come come come come whoop
04:20all right just pin this gate yeah just just don't pin it just stick the pin through
04:28okay i want to put it in like this
04:34ah ah yeah yeah yeah she's not going
04:42hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey nice yeah i'm gonna need some i don't know maybe
04:55we should lock some away this group is becoming increasingly difficult so i just need to make
05:04my life easier yeah the crazy crazy cats
05:11okay let's lock one yeah whoever goes one two three yeah yeah um yeah
05:27Nesh get out of the way either be in or be out yeah okay you go there okay come
05:36guys yeah yeah one more come yeah okay close close
06:16I'm done doing it a bit uh of the opposite way around normally we load
06:24all first but now this group's been a bit tricky lately so
06:32right
06:58yeah
07:07yeah yeah yeah
07:15yeah
07:20yeah yeah I love my boy come yeah yeah that's a good boy yeah
07:36yeah okay come trolley come
07:46that's it pull you away
07:57uh you can latch it yeah thanks all right three down three to go okay guys so a few questions
08:06arising uh why do I move the lions around um I move the lions around to give them a quality
08:16of life I move them around so that they can change environments and they can um experience
08:24new areas and enjoy being in new areas where firstly other animals have been like other lions
08:32uh but also uh but also just you know as the the bush grows over the season or as it
08:38dies back
08:40the camps feel very different so by moving groups around uh you open them up to new sense a sensory
08:48stimuli uh visually um smell touch hearing everything uh that stimulates them it keeps their lives exciting
08:59uh always say can you imagine living in one area your entire life um we don't do that to our
09:05pet dogs
09:07we take them for walks why do we take dogs for walks um yes to exercise them but also to
09:13give them
09:13um a taste of a new environment to let them uh experience new uh smells and and visual stimuli so
09:24that's why we move them around um my relationships with the animals obviously enables that because
09:29if I did not have a relationship with the animals I would not be able to move them every time
09:35we wanted
09:35to move lions around like at other sanctuaries or zoos they need to call the vet and the vet has
09:41to come
09:41in at great expense number one but number two it's also not ideal for the animal to sedate animals all
09:49the
09:49time just because you want to move them uh number three animals get stressed when the vet comes you
09:55can see at this facility uh the animals as cool and as calm as they are if they've been darted
10:02enough
10:02times by the vet when they see dr caldwell they see his car and hear his car they go running
10:07for the
10:08middle of the camps and they hide away from him so it really is as simple as that um so
10:16the other thing is
10:18I get asked the question a lot do I keep the lions in the moving vehicle the loading cage no
10:25guys I
10:26don't that's just a temporary uh it's a temporary a thing that we use to move the animals from camp
10:36to
10:36camp um otherwise there's no other way to move them I would have to walk them and then you would
10:42stand the
10:43risk of them fighting with the other inhabitants of the sanctuary so it's the safest way the quickest
10:48way to move an animal from a point a to point b um that's the loading vehicle that they love
10:54that
10:55vehicle they've all grown up with that vehicle um the the problem is guys so when the animals get older
11:02and they're finding it harder to jump in we have developed a ramp system but a lot of commentary has
11:07also
11:07come about saying well why don't we just buy a new vehicle so besides the cost of buying a new
11:14vehicle
11:15um the other thing is because people have said that help fundraise for that thank you very much
11:20that's very kind but the the other thing is is that um it's very difficult to get these lions to
11:30um want to jump into a new vehicle because they are obviously comfortable and familiar with the old
11:37vehicle so so to teach an old dog new tricks um pardon the expression or an old cat new tricks
11:44is is
11:45extremely difficult and so at great expense you're going to buy this new vehicle and it could land up
11:51being a white elephant um the lions may just refuse to load in it all together because it's a new
11:59thing
11:59we do get to a point guys where the older lions just don't want to move anymore so moving
12:06i must just say this moving must be something that's enjoyable it must be something that's exciting
12:11if you liken it to people when you are younger you are more amenable to move you want to move
12:17around
12:17you like to experience new things but then as you get older and i can speak from experience you
12:23you want to settle you don't want all the rigmarole of moving around and as people get even older and
12:31you know obviously they cannot do what they used to do because uh mechanically physically they're not
12:36able to you find that older people want to stay in one place and they don't even want to go
12:42out on
12:42on enrichment walks etc so even though it's good for them so lions um that i can see like meg
12:50and icarus
12:51i think that this year we're going to see the last of the walks with meg and icarus because
12:57they've got to that age even meg meg who was willing to do anything and everything she's just
13:02got to an age where she's quite happy to just be in one place most of the time so she
13:07likes to have
13:08the company she likes me to come visit um but i'm not convinced that meg's going to be going on
13:15too
13:15many more walks obviously guys we're going to try we're going to park the vehicle there if she wants
13:19to jump in just her on her own um icky finds it a little bit difficult because of obviously mechanically
13:25it's difficult for him but we'll continue to try and nothing's forced so be rest assured that everything
13:34that the animals are doing here is voluntary okay let's go and move thor and uh i think it yeah
13:40it's thor jabari and nez it's far easier when they're all locked in to uh obviously get in here and
13:52obviously also then manipulate them
13:58hello boy cup cup cup cup whoop
14:28come nez come nez come nez here yeah
14:47come nez come nez come nez here yeah
15:10okay um just two seconds okay i need to get her around yeah
15:27she doesn't want to be in there with him
15:36she really doesn't want to be there okay yeah
15:41yeah okay
15:46yeah yeah yeah yeah
15:59all right so what's really interesting uh to me guys is that
16:04many people think that lions are just these you know confident uh cats that just
16:11can do anything and the truth be known is that their confidence can be crushed in a in a split
16:18second so you can have a lion that is like super confident like jabari and then just through one
16:25one bad incident um or one bad experience
16:30jabari can lose all of her confidence like that
16:33um and so i just find that interesting because
16:37many people who are who i talk to just obviously have this notion in their head that the
16:44that lions are like these super confident animals that
16:47that just can do anything you know that um when they put their mind to it they can just do
16:53it
16:53and that is true i mean lions when they put their minds to something can can really be incredible
16:58animals but uh more and more i found um and especially as they get older they can lose their
17:06confidence quickly i can see it with nez today she's the dynamic between her and jabari isn't good i can
17:13see um the dynamic between jabari and thor isn't good so this little trio is a more difficult trio to
17:22move than charlie was with indy and lola
17:29all right guys that's it for today's video the lions are all moved around happy
17:34and relaxed and exploring their new environments
17:37uh the sun is coming out a little bit hotter than it was earlier so it's a good time to
17:42conclude
17:43hope you enjoyed the video guys if you did please do like and share and if it is the first
17:47time
17:48you're coming across the channel and you like what you saw uh just hit that subscribe button uh thanks
17:53and all that's left for me to say uh is uh goodbye from me kevin and all the lovely cats
18:03at the sanctuary
18:23uh
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