Into the lions' den... a zoo
owner is so passionate about his charges that he plans to live with
them for five long weeks, sleeping in their hay and even eating the
meat that is put through the bars.
Alexander Pylyshenko, 40, has
spent his life studying lions and believes that he will survive the
weeks he will live exclusively with them.
He plans to climb into the
enclosure with the beasts at his own private zoo in the yard of his
house in the small Ukrainian city of Vasylivka, some 500km from the
capital Kiev.
Mr Pylyshenko will be fed meat
through the cage at the same times as the lions and he will even
sleep on hay on the floor
During the five weeks in the
cage he will bond with Katya, an African lioness, and her male
partner Samson.
Katya is pregnant and is due
to give birth to the cubs while he is inside, which could make her
fiercely over-protective.
The zoo owner has installed a
toilet and a shower inside the cage so that he can maintain his
personal hygiene.
But he will have to avoid
shampoo, deodorant, shower gels, beer and cigarettes because the
animals dislike sharp odours.
Mr Pylyshenko hopes that his
weeks in the cage will raise money for charity and highlight what
he sees as the poor treatment across the world of lions in
captivity.
'One of the lions is pregnant,
I plan to see the cubs being born, and spend some time with them
but then I will move out,' he told the Austrian Times
'The living conditions will be
absolutely the same for the lions and me. We will sleep on wooden
floorboards and have food given to us through bars.
'There will be four webcams
planted in the cage. They will provide both experimental integrity
and broadcast the ''reality show'' on the internet.'
Mr Pylyshenko plans to paint
pictures of the animals during his stint in their living quarters
and the proceeds of the art will be given to charity.