Safari-park tourists pet, keep filming rambunctious lion after it leaps into their vehicle (video)

Pop quiz: What should you do if a lion jumps into your car?

The answer, if you're one of the tourists at a Crimean wild-animal park recently, is: Enjoy the ride.

Taigan Safari Park owner Oleg Zubkov stopped the open-sided jitney as it approached a young lion lounging against a wall. The animal, known as Filya, hopped to its feet, walked over -- and leapt into the vehicle.

Pandemonium, right?

Nope. None of the tourists appeared at all concerned. None of them, you will note in the video below, put down their smartphones. One woman reached forward and patted the lion as if it were a dachshund. Others accepted Filya's licks to the face, tittering and giggling.

Zubkov, who revels in his relationship with the lions at the park and has been called "the lion whisperer," reportedly told the tourists: "Those who do not want to film closer can go out."

The response from one: "No, no, we want to."

And, sure enough, Filya appears simply to desire some love and attention.

At this point, we feel compelled to point out that a lion, even one that lives in a commercial safari park, is a wild animal that can be unpredictable and can easily tear a human being to shreds.

In fact, a woman reportedly was mauled at the Taigan park just two months ago. The woman, Olga Solomino from the Ukraine, said a lion "bit through my right arm and used it to drag me -- like a puppet."

Zubkov, however, insists the lion attack was all a big misunderstanding. "Despite the incident," wrote the British newspaper The Independent, "[Zubkov] maintains that people are safe if they follow his instructions."

-- Douglas Perry

Source: https://www.oregonlive.com/trending/2018/09/tourists_pet_keep_filming_ramb.html