MY DECISIONS. HARD DECISIONS.
I have a few really hard decisions to make in my line of work. When I first arrived at GG, there were many pregnant lionesses as Pat Shannon had been actively breeding lions purportedly to 'save the African Lion Gene Pool'. Many of the lionesses miscarried and some ignored their cubs after birth. I think perhaps due to the insecurity, vulnerability or unsettled atmosphere existing here at that time. In January 2012 (3 months after I arrived at GG), I made the decision to separate all males and females so that we stopped breeding altogether. I realised that unless breeding was allowed in a judicial manner and only on extremely rare and important occasions, it would not only be unethical but entirely unnecessary as we are not a tourist facility and Traci and I do not allow cub petting and I won't sell our older lions to make space for younger ones as Pat used to do. So in order not to over populate our reserve, I separated all couples. In January 2013 I decided to allow