Do not stroke the lion

From patting penguins to selfies with bison, are people becoming more reckless around wildlife? And is education or punishment the answer?

- GRAEME GREEN

DO YOU SEE IT? (HE'S) PETTING it. Do you see it?" an incredulous male voice asks, as a tourist is seen opening the door of a vehicle, reaching out an arm and attempting to stroke a passing lioness.

"This is... not good." This video circulated on social media earlier this year, showing a man on safari in the Serengeti who wanted a very close encounter. The lioness shrugged him off, but it could have easily gone horribly wrong.

It's far from a one-off. I recently saw another video showing an impatient driver attempting to motor along a road where a pride of lions was resting, running over one individual's tail and causing the lion to spring up and attack the vehicle in self-defence. And yet another in which a leopard cub was allowed to almost climb into the open doors of a safari van, even though its protective mother was not far away, so a photographer could get a close-up. There are hundreds more examples of people doing brainless things around wild and dangerous animals, from taunting tigers to picking up rattlesnakes.

Idiocy around wildlife risks the safety of both people and animals. People risk being attacked, mauled and possibly killed, while animals can be harmed, removed or put down, irrespective of whether they were only defending themselves. Animal attacks can also cast a destination in a negative light, causing temporary closures or deterring visitors. All just so someone could boast that they'd stroked a lion, or captured a moment on a camera phone.