Biography
According to the Russian trainers of the brothers, the brothers, in the cage with the kings of the beasts can go anything, but to get out of it after meeting with predators weighing 2 centners - not everyone. South African Kevin Richardson, known as Lviv Caster, communicates with grivasty "cats" daily and does it without weapons and whip. A photo of a zoologist hugging with the wards is very popular on the Internet.Childhood and youth
Perhaps Kevin, which appeared in the suburb of Johannesburg in 1974, was Lviv in the past life. In any case, the boy became interested in Wildlife for 3 years, to acquire pets - crickets and toas, and with relatives I did not care.
When Father Kevin, Pharmacist by profession, passed away, the young man was 13 years old. The grief imposed on the transitional age and the difficult character of Richardson Jr. and the future zoopsychologist delivered many problems of the mother, an adult brother and the older sisters twins.
In his youth, Kevin studied 2 years at the Faculty of Zoology, but was disappointed in the university course, since it focused on the study of the biology of the simplest organisms, and the guy was interested in major predators. Richardson received a diploma of a physiotherapist, deciding to leave chat with animals as a hobby.
However, it was at the workplace of Kevin who became acquainted with the owner of the park of Lviv, founded in 1966 to prepare circus animals, which allowed an orthopedic assistant to participate in the upbringing of two lion-teenagers - Napoleon and Tau. The results turned out to be stunning: Richardson became friends with the pets, together with them and slept. So the hobby became the profession of Kevin.
Zoology and documentaries
Now Richardson is the control park "Kingdom of White Lviv", which occupies an area of 800 hectares, where they prepare wild animals for filming in documentary films and commercials. An important commercial destination of the reserve is the organization of communication of tourists and volunteers with the four-legged inhabitants of Africa.The work of Kevin with predators differs from classical training, this is not a whip and gingerbread method, but the friendship of self-respecting partners. The beasts do not live in close cells, but in the natural habitat, their willingness to hug with Richardson and the guests of the park and to pose in front of lenses is based on the fact that they rose on the hands of a zoopsychologist who knows their needs and instincts.
In addition to Lviv, Kevin also worked with chepads, leopards and hyenas, wrote about the predatory friends of books and filmed films, the most famous of which are "dangerous companions" and "Part of PRIDE: Life among large cats." Richardson argues that his goal is to stop the extermination of predators, to ensure the ban on the issuance of licenses for safari.
The activity of the zoopsychologist was repeatedly criticized. Richardson's opponents arguments: close contact of large cats with people earlier or later leads to the death or disability of the latter, and the predators grown in partial captain are unable to return to a natural lifestyle. They also note that "hugs" with lions do not affect the restoration of the population of the king of the beasts, and the means paid by visitors to the park are in the pocket of managers, and not to the Wildlife Foundation.
Personal life
Richardson's personal life knows a bit: Kevin's wife is Mandy's wife, a couple of children have a son of Tyler, born in 2009, and Jessica's daughter, which appeared in July 2013. Mandy has a marketer in the Park "Kingdom of White Lviv", and Tyler Father teaches to communicate with wild animals.
Richardson, like a trainer of tigers from the song Mikhail Boyarsky, "not consider scars". Lions perceive Kevin as a member of the flocks and turn to the zoopsychologist, respectively: lick with rough, as emery, languages, may, loving, bite or hollow with sweaty bodies during the game. The biographies of the caster of animals and the life of the reserve in 2016 dedicated to the issue of Roodelife magazine.
Kevin Richardson now
In February 2018, a tragedy was tragedy in the "kingdom of White Lviv" - a lioness, derived by Kevin on a weekly walk along the reserve, chasing the ancope and collided with a 22-year-old tourist from the United States. Despite the efforts of Paramedics, the girl died from blood loss and injuries applied by animals.The end of 2018 was marked by the completion of the filming of two pictures about predators: in October, the "Girl Mia and White Lev" tape was published on the screens of America and Europe, the Russian premiere of which took place in April 2019, and in the summer, a demonstration of the cartoon "King-Lion" . Judging by the "Instagram" Richardson, the zoologist now regularly predicts premiere lectures on the need to preserve the population of African Lviv.
Filmography
- 2005 - "Dangerous Companions"
- 2008 - "Education" (Series "Hyena")
- 2009 - "Part of PRIDE: Life among large cats"
- 2010 - "White Lion"
- 2010 - "Light! Camera »Lions!"
- 2012 - "Lions in motion"
- 2013 - "African Safari: 3D"
- 2014 - "Lion against Hien"
- 2015 - "Wild Cats: 3D"
- 2016 - "Road of Predators"