Human forms close partner with lion

Valentin Gruener and Mikkel Legarth raise Sirga as a cub after she was abandoned; pair seeks to save lion population through Modisa Wildlife Project

Valentin Gruener and Mikkel Legarth play with Sirga as if she were a family pet. But while she is not a pet, Sirga is considered part of the family, as much as a lion can be part of a human family.

It is a touching bond that stretches back to when the two men rescued Sirga as a cub deep in the African bush and became the animal’s surrogate parents. Legarth told the U.K. Daily Mail that his bond with Sirga is similar to her being part of his pride.

“A pride had three cubs and two were killed before Sirga was abandoned without food,” Legarth told the Daily Mail. “It happened on our land and we could not stand by and watch her die.”

The two conservationists, working to save the lion population through the Modisa Wildlife Project in Botswana, South Africa, raised the cub and formed an unusual bond with the animal, as you can see in the accompanying photos taken by Nicolai Frederik Bonnin Rossen.

The image shows Sirga acting as friendly as the family dog, and relates to Gruener and Legarth like she would other lions. But unlike a pet, Sirga, who is kept away from other humans, can hunt down prey on her own at the Grassland Safari Lodge where predators are kept in semi-natural conditions.

source: daily mail uk.