Lion Gets Friendly With Tourists

I bet you think that title is sarcastic, don’t you? A bunch of tourists encounter a loose lion, there’s no way it’s gonna end in anything but gratuitous bodily harm, right? Ha, no. Don’t assume things, you assumer.

At Taigan Safari Park in Vilnohirsk, Crimea, tourists ride around in a little golf cart to see and occasionally interact with the various wildlife housed there. Normally, these kinds of places have bars or something on their means of travel, but either Crimea has really friendly animals, or these ones are just well-trained.

As the cart pulls up next to a lazy lioness, she gets up to inspect her visitors. This is normally where things would go horribly wrong, but surprisingly, things took a turn for the heartwarming: the lioness climbed up into the front seat and began cuddling the driver and passenger.

This massive animal had nothing but love to give these tourists, and in addition to her wanton cuddle-fest, she happily let the other onlookers pet her. After the exasperated driver manages to remove the lioness from the cart, she gets into the back instead, and gives one of the passengers a big lick.

I don’t know what had that lioness in such a good mood, but let’s just all be thankful these folks ran into her when they did, and not when they shouldn’t have.