Annel
Snyman, a 31-year-old, from the Waterberg region of South Africa, has
adopted a tiny cob of a white lion last spring. Now the lion, called
Tima, is a year and six months old, weighs 120 kg and eats not less than
4 kg of fresh meat per day.
As
a cub Timba could often be found snoozing in Annel's bed but having
outgrown the bedroom the friendly feline still tries to cuddle up with
Annel on the sofa.
Annel's
love for animals started six years ago when, with help from her mother
and father, she opened a guest house - called Loebies Guestfarm - on the
land where she lives.
In
a bid to make the resort more appealing she decided to adopt various
farm animals and this eventually turned into hand-rearing African cats
and other wild animals after being approached by someone in the game
industry in 2009.
Since
then Annel has hand-reared dozens of animals including six serval
kittens, a cheetah cub, five lions, a white lion and a leopard.
Annel admits she spoilt the first lions she cared for even more than Timba and would regularly go swimming with them.
She
said: 'Being the first lions reared on the farm, they ruled the house,
the bed and the couches and would regularly join me for swims in the
farm dam up until they were rather large.
'While most people are amazed, this has become my life and part of who I am.
'There
are times when it is difficult to do day-to-day things but I do manage
to live a normal life - well normal for me anyway,' the owner of an
unconventional pet stated.
Find out out how the lion grew up by seeing the photoset below:
