An amazing footage has recently gone viral that shows the tourists receiving kisses and hugs from a 3-year-year-old lioness at the Taigan Safari Park in Crimea, Russia.
The astonishing scene shows Lola, the lioness cuddling a man as he sits and pats her while in an open-sided vehicle. What made people gasp after watching the video was that there was an unprotected child sitting few inches away.
The big cat then tries to kiss the girl whose worried mother clutches her tight before Lola is pulled away by Oleg Zubkov, the world-famous lion whisperer and the owner of the park.
The video also shows Lola going for a cuddle with a young woman before she was pulled away by Oleg.
Lola is a rescued lioness from a private zoo in Russia. She was rescued two years ago from the circus as they were going to put her down. The tourists said that Lola was purring like a cat which is something unusual in lions.
The video also shows two other male lions playing around as Lola confronts her tourist friends.
Oleg allows the tourists to interact with the wild cats up close given that the safety rules are followed. Lola recently gave birth to her first cub, a lioness named Lilu.
The tourists, at first, are little scared seeing this big cat up close, but when she purrs like a cat and gives kisses and hugs to them, they all just melt, said Tatiana Aleksagina, Safari Park director.
She said that Lola, when first arrived at the park was hostile to humans. But she was then tamed and cared by Oleg, who insists all his wild animals are no threat to humans and they can feel safe while accompanying them.
Lola was ordered to put down as the zoo wasn’t able to afford her. But Oleg came into the rescue and brought her back to his sanctuary.
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