Tiger farming has to be one of the worst things ever. I haven't had a reply from Zion so I'll ring them and ask nicely. Craig won't get the park back. The majority of the staff according to the Employment Relations Authority report said they would leave if Craig returned as Manager. One of the fans on Facebook had emailed a Big Cat Sanctuary in Florida and was told the Florida crew felt that Craig was just using the animals as props for his own ego. It's like watching a soap opera but with words. Haven't they got anything better to do?Pathetic really. I'm waiting for MAF to publicly release the report concerning its investigation into the declawing of 30 lions and tigers. If not I'll use the official information act to get the details. Shocking practice - no mention of that on the facebook fan site..wonder why
Craig Busch was finally back in court today trying to get the park back from his mother, and basically appears to be saying that he thought he was the owner of the park not an employee, and that everything is everybody else's fault but his own. Sacking came out of the blue claims "Lion Man" News - Yahoo!Xtra News
And to add fuel to the Zion Fire a Keeper is killed Sad news today guys A keeper at Zion Wildlife Gardens has been mauled to death by one of the Parks tigers New Zealand & World News - Yahoo!Xtra News Imagine the media storm over this one
This following article is from the NZ Herald. It's all coming out now, and about time too. As I said in the other thread - he set up a culture of bravado and machismo and ego. It's not about conservation in any way.
I've been reading today's Northern Advocate. Huge photo of Dalu on the front page. Yes as far as the dope smoking goes it wouldn't surprise me. Someone from Ireland one time asked in my comment forum if the Lion Man was on drugs. I said I didn't know of course because I didn't. I can't see the Park ending up being prosecuted by OSH for breach of safety. The *Fans* don't like to hear bad things about their *hero*
I joined this forum so that I can reply to you all concerning us Brits. Many British people may have joined the facebook forum, signed petitions, what ever, because we are not in possession of all the facts. I have not signed or anything. All we ever see is Dalu Mncube, date of birth and death at the end of the programme. There is no news on the park in our media. I wanted to find out when a new series may be aired, so googled. After a day of reading, I think I have a basic understanding of all the facts. Not all the facts. A limited understanding. We are under the impression that NZ is very proud of Craig Busch and his park. I cannot answer the accusations about people over writing or rubbishing any thing written against Craig or his park, because I have not joined any thing apart from this site. British people are thick. Yes, I am British. I have lived in London England all my life, so am qualified to say it. But do give us credit, we do care about conservation. I will be keeping up with this saga.
i like to second what redlady said. i'm british too and we get programs a long time after they have aired in other countries. i saw an episode of lion man around chritsmas time and it was the episode where dalu was arriving for his first day at the park. and i've never seen any media about the attack over here. as for craig / zion - i've never liked him/the park for the reasons already said by other people (small enclosure size, the removal of cubs, the substrait they are kept on which often seems to be some kind of bark chips or stones) and i was surprised they seemed so willing to show it on the show. but it was not until i looked today at this link that i saw all the stuff about the lawsuits ect. so i can understand why poeple who are not from NZ can be fooled by him. and why so many from overseas have signed the petition. on a side not, this may sound ignorant but why did they put abu down. many keepers have been killed/attacked by various species and i thought most animals were just not allowed close interaction with keepers again. (and i'm talking about after an attack not during an attack)
the cubs were only removed for hand rearing if the parents abandoned them and he would remove them after 10 days sometimes but this was to tame the animals not to cause harm to them.
not an ignorant question at all. The tiger was shot in order to get Dalu's body away, and there may have been a question as to whether he was still alive at the time (in which case shooting the tiger would have been entirely justified). There are two versions of the shooting: the very early initial reports said the tiger was shot after Dalu was already dead, but later (probably more accurate reports although I wouldn't like to say that catergorically) it was stated that the tiger was shot while it was still mauling the man although it isn't clear whether he was already dead or not. If you use the drop-bar at the top of the NZ Forums page to find "Zion Wildlife Park" that will give you a list of all the Zion threads and you can read about all the topics (or at the top of this page, click on the highlighted "discussion" to give you the list of threads)
in one episode when he was removing cubs he said it was because he wanted to tame them. the rest of the episode was spent showing the mother clearly pinning for the cubs and in distress. in my view this was unnecessary as they have had several cats reject cubs that they had to hand rear. to chlidonias - thanks for the answer and advice, ill check it out. i read somewhere that dalu was dead when they found him and that they had put the lion down a few days after the attack (which is why i raised the question) - this was clearly wrong then, thanks
this is the thread about the attack http://www.zoochat.com/17/yet-another-big-cat-accident-zion-83236/ It's nine pages long but most of it isn't actually about the attack at all (it sort of got side-tracked into a white tiger debate). Post 35 refers to the first report that the tiger was shot whilst still attacking Dalu, previous accounts having suggested it was shot soon afterwards
