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

 

 

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.

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