Astonishing Footage Of Lion Getting Up Close And Personal With A Group Of Tourists

Recently tourists at a safari park in Ukraine had a remarkable experience. A lion climbed over the lot of them and even licked one in the face! This is actually a little disturbing given the fact that just a few weeks earlier, a woman was mauled by a lion at the same spot. If you watch the video you will see an untethered lion climbing aboard an open vehicle filled with tourists at Crimea’s Taigan Safari Park.

Amazing selfie opportunity

The lion named Filya cuddled with some of the tourists and seemed to be enjoying itself. The tourists played with the lion and had the opportunity to take some truly astonishing selfies with the big cat who is two years old as he sat in the driver’s seat. The park owner Mr Oleg Zubkov who is known as ‘lion whisperer’ was close by to supervise the encounter. The footage shows the lion approaching the open side of the vehicle and is stroked by Mr Zubkov.

The lion was affectionate

The big cat then climbs over his back and proceeds to get up close and person with a woman sitting in the passenger seat. The lion then puts both his paws on the steering wheel as if to say he was taking control of it. Following which, Filya then leapt into the back of the vehicle in between two tourists, nuzzling up against one of them. Not to surprisingly, all four occupants were shooting videos of the encounter with their phones. The lion then licked a woman’s face.

Park owner will not change policy despite previous attack

This encounter occurred just weeks after a woman was attacked by a different lion at the very same park. The woman who was attacked said the lion bit through her right arm and dragged her as if she were a puppet. She wasn’t aware of what was happening until she was in the care of park staff who were providing medical attention. Despite the attack, the park owner refuses to stop his policy of allowing tourists to get up close and personal with lions at his establishment.