Sixteen years ago, when South African zoologist Kevin Richardson took the opportunity to work with lions, he knew that his career was going to take a dramatic turn.

He began to work with these magnificent predators to build a different sort of relationship with them while basically throwing the safety rulebook out the window. He was single-minded about one thing: that if he used love and trust and tried to get to know and understand their individual personalities, he could establish a bond with them.

It seems that Richardson has indeed succeeded in creating strong personal bonds with these wild creatures, to the point that people has dubbed him the Lion Whisperer. Today, he is using his unique talents and through documentaries and his wildlife sanctuary to create awareness towards the declining population of lions and other African carnivores due to hunting and other illegal inhumane activities.

Just recently, he teamed up with extreme action video extraordinaire GoPro to raise awareness about these animals being on the brink of extinction. With a GoPro Hero 3+ strapped to his chest, Richardson took to the plains of Africa to create a footage that captures how it feels like to be…umm, wrestled by two 10-year-old lions…playfully, of course.

While thoughts of the Grizzly Man and his gruesome end may come to some darker minds, this awesome video does generally make one feel all warm and gooey inside. And it’s definitely a great way to get people to pay attention.

See the cuddly video after the jump.

Via DIYPhotography

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