Daring Ranger Spends A Day With 5 Lions | BIG CAT LIFE

A DARING animal ranger has spent an ENTIRE day living with a pride of lions – hoping to form an unbreakable bond with their new-born cubs. 24-year-old, Shandor Larenty, took it upon himself to be the first human to try and interact with the three cubs on site at the Lion And Safari Park in South Africa. With the cub’s mom, Rialda, and 250kg dad, George, rarely leaving their side, Shandor was faced with the potentially deadly task of not forcing his approach and upsetting the protective parents. Shandor, who is sometimes dubbed the ‘Lion King’, has formed an incredible bond with George over the past seven years that allows him to be able to hand-feed the apex predator. But he knew the stakes were different this time around with George’s cubs involved… This is the first episode in Barcroft TV's brand new three-part series: 'Big Cat Life', that airs on the Beastly YouTube channel, with a new episode being released each week.

Video Script:: 

[Music] what I do is incredibly dangerous these guys are wild buttons we don't carry firearms or anything like that it's all about working with your experience but today we're gonna try and see how close is the part we can get home guys guys it's difficult to say what's actually going to happen you're biting hey once you go through the gate now what are the what are the dangers that you face there's a lot of dangers with doing what I do there's a lot of people in this industry that will tell you that they 100% trust these animals and people like that should be working with these animals after China for about 12 years Shanta always puts the animals interests first so I'm pretty apprehensive about today he's never had like an incident or anything I've never really spent a full day in the pipe so it's so dangerous just because with lions if a male has a female in season if they get really possessive over that it's something that you know could end up with me getting killed it's really important for me to be able to do this just because basically if I want to keep working with the georgian rial de and you know stay as part of the pride I need to maintain that relationship for the Cubs today the Cubs are now reaching about five months and we in the park refer to them as wild lions there's no human interaction they've been raised by their parents and they're not really socialized with people better never come right up to me you can only feel comfortable to a certain extent these guys are apex predators they are incredibly dangerous George weighs up to about 250 kilograms half of that is enough to knock you over not only about these guys have an incredibly powerful bite with really really big teeth Lions have owned up to one ton per square jaw pressure the mother does get protective it's difficult to say how they're actually gonna respond one time in there we're gonna try and see how close into the Barbican get [Music] come on get them guys yeah yeah come on so you can see they're not very cooperative at the moments come guys yeah yeah yeah lions are incredibly dangerous one wrong move in here you know things can go really really wrong okay so they're not coming over we're gonna have to resort out a little bit of bribery we're gonna get some of the meat art [Music] [Music] I the juice melon but you smellin hey so when people look at these guys they always think oh it's it's light and all lines of a saver it's very very far from that oh these guys all have their own individual personalities [Music] on our part we don't carry firearms or anything like that it's you know all about working with your experience yeah ask and you just keep the noise down please when they get a bit grumpy it's just best to remove yourself from the situation it's not something that you're gonna be able to to stop and you don't want to be caught in the middle of that so you can see realities coming up behind me over here oh we have grumpy lions what is that all about these two fights quite a bit suppose it's like any marriage so I'm just watching that she doesn't jump hey RiRi she gets irritated really quickly so she'll go over and sit somewhere else and that's all about understanding the pride dynamics [Music] so you never go up and approach the Cubs you always raise them to come to you is that right so we don't go up and walk to the babies this is the environment we have to ensure that they're comfortable at all times and if they don't want to do something they don't have to do it so yeah I got to watch the delivery I got to be there basically from the start and actually just watching the Cubs you know going from being something that's under a kilogram all the way up to the snow so it is something very special in the beginning you couldn't get anywhere near them and you know as you can see lots of time and lots of dedication real that does get a bit protective she'll tell you when she's not comfortable with you being so close to the Cubs a mess hey Nadine how are things here I've been here literally the whole morning seems to be getting like a little bit closer but you can see they're still quite a little bit skittish but one of the Middle's knew me a little bit cheeky he's watching me a bit sure outs so the Cubs are showing a little bit of aggression so what we're basically doing is just giving them a little bit of meat coming them down food makes everything better he's a cheeky one that one yes your mom come okay oh my god chill out like hey ok sorry guys we need to do that coupling to move because he's like just being a problem now how would you describe schandle Asian ship with the proud of lines he's very passionate about them especially of George him and George have an incredible bond how can you have a tick I literally sprayed him like oh sorry see if I can grab hold of it we always make sure that the animals come first but people don't do that with animals he's able to do nearly anything of them Shanno is very good of those lines he's put in a lot of time and effort early warnings late nights so you guys can hear that song that's basically the cup giving you a warning but as you can see I've moved over to the side and this covers actually come right up to me so this is what it's all about is just building this this trust for them basically through the parents so you can see he's chilling right next to dad here he's staring at me hey see if we can get him to to say hello key as the dough goes on these guys are getting a little bit more comfortable as you can see they're starting to come right after me still giving you a few smiles I just want them getting too close they let me know I can actually feel the breath of the cub on me I was that I've put in today and it's really starting to pay off let's see if we can so he's actually touching me this is the closest I've been to them it's a super super exciting the big thing here is just not to make any fast movements [Music] I've never been able to actually touch them did we get that yeah [Music] you can really see that they are starting to trust me a bit more today's been a really really special day during what we do it's obviously incredibly dangerous you have to be 100% aware of their behaviors at all times you can never let your guard down just building the relationship that I have and working on it and being able to get to a close that the Cubs actually can't even describe how excited I was today I was there when they were born and we've come up to this now and I actually get to touch them and and really be you know one with the pride it's it's an amazing experience and it's it gets me really really emotional the love you show them and the dedication that you put in we're answerís appreciated back to you it's the best feeling there's literally nothing better than them just showing you love you you