“We Bought a Zoo (2011)” this film portraits a story that is not far from reality and I was fortunate to be involved in filming behind the scenes the revival of one in tropical Australia.
The receivers of this closed zoo appointed a zoo animal carer to look after the animals welfare until such time a new owner was found to purchase the zoo.
These are some of the behind the scenes with “Tim Husband” the appointed Zoo Keeper and a whisperer to these animals. We will in a near future release some more fascinating footage as a tribute to Tim’s remarkable professionalism and integrity toward these magnificent animals in a love and survival stories.
The following video segment is a dramatic lion cub scene where gulping the meat without properly chewing has almost disastrous consequences. Although a situation like these in captivity is quite rare, deaths have occurred from food chocking on exotic captive animals in New Zealand and the Rotterdam Zoo.
Performing the “Heimlich maneuver” in a lion cub, is a common procedure, by applying several forceful abdominal thrusts that force air out of the lungs via the diaphragm. It may seem hard and brutal, but in comparison to a kick from a Zebra, this is a walk in the park for any lion.
Alberto Vale
Alberto Vale is an avid naturalist and a successful wildlife videographer. He resides in Cairns, Australia, just minutes from the best wildlife locations in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Rainforest's. Conducting nocturnal wildlife interpretation tours for the past 14 years, Alberto claims that the two most important things for a successful wildlife videographer, " is to know the habitat and it's wildlife". His wildlife videography has two completed wildlife documentaries, soon to be released on DVD. Alberto has received numerous tourism and videography awards throughout his passionate naturalist career.
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