Like a lot of people, I hate to see this sort of video. It is not massively shocking as Internet videos go. It is a bit of fun or that’s what it looks like. It’s the story behind the video which is important. It underpins the generally poor relationship between humankind and iconic wild species such as the lion.
In the video a young woman perhaps inadvertently through unconscious bias (to use the words of Prince Harry!) mocks a lion who wants to get out of his prison which is a zoo partly surrounded by thick glass panelling. I have stolen that phrase – unconscious bias – because I think it is not only accurate for quiet racism but our uncomfortable relationship with animals and in this instance the lion.
The video shows the kind of feline behaviour we see in domestic cats when they are locked out of their home and want to get in. They sometimes paw at the patio doors just like this. It appears to be an act of frustration while acting at the same time as a signal to people within to open the door.
We have to imagine the mental torture of the lion permanently corralled into a tiny space compared to the vast open spaces of the Serengeti where its home range might be hundreds of square kilometres. It is indeed a prison and he has done nothing wrong but be a lion.
Being a lion is a curse on this planet. That’s because there are humans who share the planet and who regrettably dominate the planet and the wildlife supported by the Earth. When lions are cared for it is in bloody zoos where they are exploited.
Humans just can’t leave the lion alone. They can’t leave the lion with enough space to thrive. Their world is closing in on them thanks to constant pressure from an ever-expanding human population on the African continent. It is a part of the world where human population growth is at its highest. It’s no place for wildlife. That sounds absurd because it is the best place for wildlife currently but the future is bleak.
There is continual poaching which, fortunately, is being combated with some novel technologies such as real-time, AI enabled detection cameras which allow rangers to respond rapidly to the presence of poachers.
But these are all reactive actions by conservationists. Humankind is not resolving the problem at source in taking proactive action or at least not sufficiently to protect the animals. Humans can’t because there’s no control over human population growth. Therefore, there will always be a reactive process as the wild animals become squeezed and pushed off the planet as one conservationist referred to it.
Sad. My son send me a picture of a Gorilla at a zoo in Wisconsin. He was laying on his side and his eyes were so sad. I loth zoo’s and circuses. Zoo’s would be okay if they rescued animals that can’t survive in the wild or can be rehabilitated and returned to the wild. But they breed animals and trade them with other zoo’s claiming to save them. Keeping wild animals for human entertainment is sick.