Bones
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The first time I met Bones at Roxy Dankwert's Wild is Life sanctuary in Zimbabwe, he was devouring meat with gusto. When male lions feed, there's always a lot of growling and snarling and Bones's guttural roars rang out across the sanctuary and vibrated in my chest. He's enormous and it was quite unnerving. And yet when Roxy put her arms around him, he was as meek as a kitten.

Bones arrived at Wild is Life as a three-day-old orphan. He and his siblings had been abandoned by their terrified mother in Karoi, Zimbabwe, when Mugabe's land reforms turned violent. Because he was denied colostrum, the antibodies passed to newborns via their mother's milk, he suffered considerable health challenges in his first year. During that time, he slept on Roxy's bed and became part of the family. As Roxy puts it, 'Bones has always had a spirit that is indomitable.' She describes him as a 'gentle and loving lion,' and an 'astonishing Ambassador for his species.'

As the movie Blood Lions shows, lions are in peril. Over 6,000 live in puppy-farm conditions on farms in South Africa, bred purely to play with tourists as cubs and then be gunned down at short range in ‘canned' shoots by wealthy hunters. Elsewhere, they're being poached in greater numbers than ever before at the same time as their habitat shrinks due to war, drought and population growth. Their range shrunk by 30-50 per cent in the second half of the 20th century. Their conservation status is Vulnerable, one step from Endangered.



Digital-C prints of the photograph are available in unlimited quantities, with 50% of sales price donated to Born Free Foundation.
16x20 prints are $200; 20"x30" prints are $300; 30"x50" prints are $500; 50"x70" prints are $800.
All prints are available framed, for a small additional price. Prices are all our wholesale cost, Village West does not take a fee or make a profit on framing.

Limited edition (no more than 5) of archival pigment prints on high quality paper will be printed on request.
Prices will range from $3000 to $10,000, depending on size. For more information on this option, please contact Robinson Holloway.

If you are interested in purchasing this photograph, or making an appointment to see it, please email Robinson Holloway or call (1) 917-859-4947.

 

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