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Saturday, August 29, 2015

Woman in South Africa shares her bed with a LION

Miekie van Tonder has hand reared the lion cub from just five days old after it was separated from its mother
Elsa became separated from her mother when she was just five days old and was raised by hand by Miekie van Tonder 
 
Miekie van Tonder raised Elsa raised by hand in her home and even let her sleep in her bed so she could monitor her through the night.
She insists there is nothing to fear about sharing a bed with the big cat, which she has raised since she was a tiny cub
As she grew older, Elsa moved to an enclosure which she shared with two, slightly bigger, male lion cubs. 
But at eight months old, she had never interacted with lions before and wasn't used to their rough play but joined in and injured her neck.
She underwent a two hour operation which appeared to fix the problem but later started having problems with her balance. 
Her condition meant she had to go to a conventional hospital in Roodepoort, near Johannesburg, for an MRI scan before undergoing further surgery to fix the problem.
Such was Ms van Tonder's dedication, her surrogate mother dressed up in a lion suit and collected money at the traffic lights of her home city Bloemfontein to fund the treatment.
Their bond remains a tight one with Ms van Tonder insisting she has nothing to fear by cuddling up to the giant cat at night.
'At night she still sleeps with me. She cuddles up with me under the duvet. It's amazing sleeping with a lion,' she said
Miekie van Tonder cuddles a fully grown lion that she has raised since she was a cub. Elsa needed a number of operations after crushing a vertebrae 

Miekie Van Tonder is trained in game preservation and field guiding but shares a motherly bond with this lion
Miekie Van Tonder is trained in game preservation and field guiding but shares a motherly bond with this lion

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