Video: Two lion cubs and a stick
Two little lion cubs in the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve playing, while their mother is napping and their aunt is enjoying a fresh piece of buffalo.
KLASERIE – These two lion cubs were born in this reserve. The lions in this area are tracked on a daily basis, the trackers and rangers know them very well. Some of them are known well enough to be named.
The cubs in the video and picture, were the offspring of Mila. Mila will always be found roaming the area with her sister Lisa. They were born within the pride of lions known throughout the Klaserie and Timbavati reserves as the Ross Pride.
They broke away from their pride to go and start one of their own. A few years ago, three massive males came into the area which the rangers and trackers aptly named the Trilogy Males. They were also named “the kings of the Klaserie” since they were extremely dominant and pushed out a lot of other lions, including the Ross Pride.
They took Mila and Lisa as their new mates and fathered these two cubs. Lisa also had three babies with the Trilogy Males, a year prior to these ones’ arrival, but they were unfortunately killed at four months.
The babies in the photos are two months old. Unfortunately also at age four months, they were killed by the invasive and highly aggressive Hercules Pride. Their mother and their aunt, Lisa were chased away by this pride and the cubs were killed. A game ranger and tracker, Dean Erasmus, took the video and pictures of the cubs.
“This was a heartbreaking thing that happened but we have to remember that, that is the way nature works. Nature does appear cruel sometimes but we cannot intervene. Its a bitter pill to swallow but it’s the way it works. What I can do, is show people the beauty of it. That minute in their lives where they got to play and be happy,” he said.
Also read: Kidnapped baby returned
Photographs and video supplied by Dean Erasmus.
