- 4 hours ago
Kevin Richardson takes Vayetse and Ginny on an enrichment walk while keeping a close eye on Vayetse’s recovery. After recently noticing him stumble, walk with a limp, and seem clumsy on his hind legs, Kevin checks signs of neurological or spinal trouble with practical observations like paw response, tail movement, obstacle awareness, and the way he jumps.
The walk also captures the contrast between the two lions: Vayetse is improving but still shows weakness in the quads and hindquarters, while Ginny moves with agile confidence and even finds a warthog hoof to chew on. Along the way, Kevin explains how older sanctuary lions can develop mechanical, muscular, skeletal, and neurological issues, and why enrichment walks matter so much for their physical and psychological well-being.
This lion rehabilitation and wildlife sanctuary video blends animal care, big cat observation, and hands-on field assessment in a natural outdoor setting. It is especially relevant for viewers interested in lion behavior, animal health, sanctuary life, and educational wildlife commentary.
Created for fans of wildlife documentary-style content, lion behavior analysis, animal rehabilitation, and sanctuary walking tours. Also a strong fit for search terms like lion whisperer, enrichment walk, big cat health, wildlife sanctuary, and educational animal care videos.
The walk also captures the contrast between the two lions: Vayetse is improving but still shows weakness in the quads and hindquarters, while Ginny moves with agile confidence and even finds a warthog hoof to chew on. Along the way, Kevin explains how older sanctuary lions can develop mechanical, muscular, skeletal, and neurological issues, and why enrichment walks matter so much for their physical and psychological well-being.
This lion rehabilitation and wildlife sanctuary video blends animal care, big cat observation, and hands-on field assessment in a natural outdoor setting. It is especially relevant for viewers interested in lion behavior, animal health, sanctuary life, and educational wildlife commentary.
Created for fans of wildlife documentary-style content, lion behavior analysis, animal rehabilitation, and sanctuary walking tours. Also a strong fit for search terms like lion whisperer, enrichment walk, big cat health, wildlife sanctuary, and educational animal care videos.
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hello, boy!
00:04Alright, very good morning, guys. So today I'm going to be taking Vietzi and
00:09Ginny out for an enrichment walk and just a little bit of a follow-up on
00:16Vietzi on his health because a couple of weeks back I was taking them out for a
00:23walk and as I opened the gate I noticed Vietzi just stumbled out the camp and
00:29looked like he was drunk actually but I then noticed that he was a little bit
00:36lame on his hind limbs so we did a bit of a deep dive into what was causing this
00:46and obviously in consultation with Dr. Caldwell and we you know put him on a
00:53on an intervention protocol with these meds anti-inflammatories stuff for pain
01:01stuff for infection and yeah he did respond very well and you know slowly but
01:11surely actually the use came back but I noticed that he hasn't fully recovered
01:16from that and he is a bit clumsy now when he walks so today we're going to be just
01:24observing him and I've got a few things that I need to kind of test because I was
01:30under the impression guys that I thought did he have a stroke and yeah then I came
01:37to understand and and read and get told that strokes and lines are not very very
01:44common can occur but not common and this is most likely something more
01:51neurological without further ado the two are really excited about their walk it's
01:56just so funny guys I just must say this it always reminds me of you know when you go
02:02to the the the cupboard and you get out the lead for the dog your dog and they get
02:09super excited because they know what's coming
02:11hello guys hello guys what the fudge oh yo
02:33guys it's no way to start a walk honestly let's go out you go out you go hello
02:42you're
02:56old couple scrap are we gonna go this way oh okay hello my girl
03:02hello okay so I specifically you can see where Doc took blood on his right
03:28only but look at the way he's walking guys hello big boy oh whoa whoa whoa hello boy oh he's
03:37full of it he's full of energy today well he smells
03:47and sniffs yeah he's caught a nice little whiff of something there and he's very excited about that okay today
04:01I've been given a few
04:04tests that I want to do. I don't know if I'm going to be able to perform all of them.
04:10The one is a
04:11paw flip test and I can see he's going to fail that just by what I've observed now walking with
04:18him in the last couple of minutes. The paw flip test is basically if I take his hind legs paws
04:27so on the left and the right flip the paw so the knuckles are basically on the ground and see
04:33how he flips it back. A cat with a very good connection to the paw neurologically should
04:46be kind of annoyed by that and flip it back very quickly. So if he doesn't flip it back
04:52it's something to look at. The other thing is obviously obstacle awareness. Obviously when
05:03he's walking like he is now on the flat it's not that difficult to navigate but when he
05:16tries to step over rocks or branches or stuff like that if he fumbles and stumbles yeah that again
05:25could could point to spinal cord or nerve issues. And then one of the good indicators of spinal or nerve
05:39problems is the tail test. So you know to kind of handle his tail see what he does does he
05:48do what
05:48like a healthy lion like I'll do it with Jenny too. Does he do what a healthy lion would do
05:53which
05:54would be to flick the tail away get mildly agitated or does he you know is the tail kind of
06:02flaccid and
06:02lump. Okay let's see how he's doing here. Tail's up that's a good sign. Let me just try and get
06:09ahead
06:09of him he's not gonna enjoy that. Oh sorry about the shadows guys.
06:30See the tail okay so the tail you can see he's actually got you see that he's got very good
06:41use
06:41of the tail yeah he expressed a little bit of annoyance by me holding on to his tail
06:49tail so that's a good sign but I can see hello my boy I can see him dragging his paws
07:07on the hind quarters
07:12he's not he's he's almost high-stepping he's overcompensating
07:27you can see with her you hold her tail it's very her tail's very rigid and mobile
07:38she pulls it and she can move it and manipulate it so we rapidly approaching spring yay beautiful day
07:49today our rivers are still pretty full so with some rain these rivers are going to be up there again
08:06oh and look at me wearing my vayeti top I did that on purpose today the other day I didn't
08:16know that I
08:16didn't even realize I I put the vayeti top on and then only realized that I was wearing it when
08:22I was
08:24with them so yeah subconsciously I knew I was going to be walking them oh
08:39all right as we get to the more difficult stuff here as Ginny leads the way oh
08:49then we're going to see more likely a few tripping episodes
09:17by comparison if you look at Ginny walks obviously the front paws are lifted
09:26high to obviously step over whatever in the way and then because she knows proprioceptively where
09:37the front paws have gone the the kind of the hind paws follow suit without much effort it's a synchrony
09:47they the front and the back are in perfect tune yeah she looks light-footed she looks agile yeah healthy
09:58that's how a lion should be it's how a lion should be walking
10:07well she's always on the lookout this lioness love love love walking with Ginny because Ginny almost like
10:24Jabari never misses anything are we gonna wait for a big guy hey
10:38no no no she says not today she's having a lot of fun today up on the damn wall and
10:47she's off to something
10:56I don't think she found what she was looking for we are following the protocol that Doc Caldwell has recommended
11:07and and we give feedback based on that and then we tweak accordingly so
11:16you know although obviously I appreciate all of you kind of giving your input and I know many of you
11:26out there are very well educated and have a lot of experience in these types of things but obviously as
11:36I said before we got to just listen to what Doc Caldwell has has advised trust the process and go
11:44with that so
11:45yeah rest be assured that this guy is getting all the necessary treatment so there you can see him walking
11:54guys I mean to the untrained eye I think most people wouldn't even say that there's anything untoward about Vaetsy's
12:03gait but I know Vaetsy and that's a good sign that tail flicking like that I like that but because
12:12a couple of weeks back that tail wasn't
12:17so active it was a little bit more lump so means that neural activity is you know is firing there's
12:30there's a lot going on there but what what I have noticed is the weakness in the quads and the
12:38hammies so it's almost like he's soft stepping
12:43it's almost like he's got too much shock absorption in the hindquarters he kind of squats down low and it's
12:54especially when he does movements that are sudden where you'll notice the lack of control that he has
13:09the sad reality of an aging sanctuary it's really really sad I mean I was here yesterday just doing my
13:19rounds and literally every camp besides Thor's group
13:26in fact that was the only group to be honest every other group of lions there was one individual within
13:33the group that needed to be assessed so
13:40this is this is the reality of of running a sanctuary that has animals that are literally geriatric and
13:51yeah we're just making their lives as as good as possible and I've said it many times before I'll say
14:00it again for those who haven't been watching the channel
14:06and they're wondering they've tuned in they're wondering why is this guy walking with two lions these are what we
14:12call enrichment walks good for their psychological and physical well-being
14:20okay okay there you can see him running yeah that's a bit dodgy not bad a lot better than than
14:29prior or before so impressed and if we continue with this kind of rehabilitation
14:36you know we can get that inflammation under control and yeah Vaetzee's got a good few years left in him
14:44still a good few quality years
14:46so that's always the thing you know and I actually have noticed now looking at him in the light
14:52you can see him in the light his condition has picked up so that's like in three four weeks definitely
15:03the muscle mass on the the leg has picked up the hind leg so that would indicate to me that
15:12there is
15:13these these neural pathways that are being activated there and those muscles are getting a good work that you know
15:19the brain
15:21is talking to the muscles the muscles are doing what they meant to do and as we go along with
15:27these kind of walks
15:27I think that'll get better and better so these walks are super guys if you know I've emphasized it so
15:35many times in the past you know for a healthy line
15:38consider this for a healthy line these walks are imperative psychologically and physically it's just you know you don't get
15:49better
15:50but for a lion that has had a episode these walks suddenly become like a hundredfold more important because that
16:00exercise is super critical to Vaetzee's rehabilitation
16:06all right so as we're walking towards the south bobcat has come to say hello gabi and bobcat look how
16:13he's walking
16:15specifically when he gets up or lies down mechanically there's arthritic changes there yeah we are obviously dealing with bobcat's
16:28issues as well
16:29and I'll I'll say this again I've said it before the girls tend to get away with it you know
16:43the girls don't seem to get these mechanical musculoskeletal neurological issues they they being a little bit more athletic I'd
16:56say lighter smaller
16:58they don't seem to be as harsh on their skeletons as the male lions are the males are heavily built
17:05muscular you know when they're in their prime
17:07their muscle mass is putting tremendous forces on all their joints and their bones and stuff and they tend to
17:15suffer the consequences when they get to about 17-18
17:19whereas the girls and you start to see these kind of degenerative changes in the girls post 21 2021 I
17:30know now
17:32Echo and Iobi are showing some real changes Meg as well but yeah that's that's to be expected
17:41it
17:42the
17:42the
17:43the
17:43the
17:48Let's go.
18:23I don't know where she gets her energy from
18:35What she deliberately did there is
18:39The window is coming this way and she kind of like tracked around
18:43Until she caught scent and now she's heading back towards the scent
18:50So nothing to do with the dam
18:52She'd want to come for a drink
18:56Or just to hang out
18:59Have a look aesthetically
19:03That's where she came. Warthogs have been active here
19:14Is that your prize?
19:17A stick
19:19Well, I could have
19:20I could have just got you one from
19:23Earlier on there
19:25No, no, it's not a stick
19:28It is
19:29A hoof
19:32She found a hoof
19:34That's what she's smelt
19:36She did smell a Warthog
19:40Anyway
19:43It's not very tasty
19:45But hey, maybe she'll
19:46Sit there chewing on it
19:49Which is exactly what she's decided to do
19:58Now guys
20:00Is that not just
20:02Super incredible
20:04This lioness
20:07Smelt that
20:09Warthog
20:11Leg bone
20:13From about
20:15Three to four hundred meters away
20:19Went down until she lost the scent
20:22So she was obviously catching a scent of it
20:25Then realized she had lost the scent
20:27Turned back
20:28So that she could cut across the scent
20:30And then followed the scent
20:32Right to here
20:34And she's got a little prize
20:37So
20:39Imagine a lion in the wild
20:41And
20:42You know
20:43A carcass or something
20:45In the bush
20:47They
20:48They will find it
20:49It's incredible
20:51So
20:51If you're ever wondering about
20:55A lion's
20:57Ability
20:57In terms of its sense of swell
21:00Wonder
21:01No more
21:02Because I mean
21:02We like to believe that we have a very good
21:04Or a decent sense of smell
21:06We can't
21:07We can't triangulate that
21:09From that kind of distance
21:11There's no ways
21:24A good demonstration by Jenny
21:27Of the carnageal
21:29Scissor-like molars
21:32Crunching, slicing through that bone
21:36Not quite as strong as hyenas
21:38But
21:39For a small bone like that
21:40Not a problem
21:42Here comes big boy
21:45She's wondering
21:46How the hell did he find us?
21:50Followed our scent
21:52Hello boy
21:53Oh
22:03Yeah
22:04You don't have to chew on a horrible bone
22:07Yeah
22:08Yep
22:09Yep
22:10Yep
22:11And you
22:15Okay
22:15Okay
22:15Okay
22:15This is the litmus test
22:16To see how he can jump
22:19A little bit of a fumble
22:21But
22:22Way, way, way, way, way better
22:25Uh
22:28Oh
22:30Oh
22:30Oh my goodness girl
22:31Why did you do that?
22:44Come on
22:45Come on
22:45Here
22:45Ginny
22:53Okay
22:54Sometimes you've just got to reboot
22:56And then reload
22:58And then reload
22:59Get her in first
23:02Yeah
23:03And then him
23:04Come
23:05Yeah
23:07Okay
23:08Take two
23:09Let's see how he jumps this time
23:11Whoa
23:12Better jump
23:14Okay
23:16Okay
23:21Yeah
23:22So sometimes
23:23Yeah
23:26There we go
23:28Okay
23:28Okay
23:28One more for you
23:29Big guy
23:32Because you didn't get a stinky bone
23:33Okay
23:35Okay
23:54Full
23:55But
23:57You
23:57You
24:00You
24:04Boom
24:05And then