Man tries to hug wild lion in South Africa, you won’t believe what happens

What do you think happens when you try to hug a lion? Of course you know what happens, the lion isn’t going to be into it, and it’s probably going to try to eat you. The story you’re about to hear is unlike the one you have in your head when you think of a man attempting to hug a lion.

A brave man named Kevin Richardson is a South African zoologist, who studies native animals to Africa. He has studied lions to such an extent that he seems to have uncovered the secret to not being mauled to death, as you will see. He has decades of hands-on experience studying how lions behave, and he was able to use that knowledge to his benefit in an amazing way.

Richardson and his crew got together their GoPro cameras and traveled to get as close as they possibly could to these African lions. After he calls them, they miraculously DON’T attack, but they go in for a hug! You have to admit that when you watch, you immediately think he’s doomed. Instead, you’re a witness to one of the most adorable hugging sessions ever. These 400-pound animals seem to act like nothing more than house cats around Richardson.

Richardson is capturing the eyes of the world through his relationships with these lions, as well as hopefully attracting much-needed awareness to the issues that wildlife animals are facing in Africa. Wild animals numbers are dwindling as time goes on, and if these trends continue, animals such as these beautiful lions will eventually be on the endangered species list.

Richardson truly believes that this is a possibility within the next 20 years – not that these lions will be put on endangered species lists, but that they will be extinct.

Why are the numbers of these types of lions seemingly dropping at such an insane rate? These amazing creatures are simply losing their natural habitats extremely quickly, due to unethical hunting and extensive progression by humans to their homelands.

Richardson truly hopes that this kind of footage can put to rest many people’s fears over these types of animals. If people can feel like he can interact with them in this way, maybe he can change the world’s view on lions in general.

Sources: GoPro, earthporm.com and feber.se