Through the Eyes of a Lion: Facing Impossible Pain, Finding Incredible Power

by Levi Lusko

In the 1990s a breeding experiment between Asiatic and African lions in India went horribly wrong. Scientists tried to mix the two together, but it backfired. The hybrid lions’ back legs were too weak to support them. Some were so feeble they couldn’t even eat meat off the bone and had to be served boneless meat. There were originally about eighty of these hybrids, a figure that was down to twenty-one when I read about it.8 They are kept in a small enclosure, nicknamed the “old age home” for lions. Those who take care of them are basically just waiting for them to die. The photos of these pitiful creatures were heartbreaking. One reporter noted that the lions “are extremely weak. They can barely stand up or walk. Their only activity is a small but painful walk to eat their meals. However, if challenged, they can still muster a spine-chilling roar.”