The vegetarian lion?

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http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i2/lion.asp

The lion that wouldn't eat meat

 

First published:

*Creation ex nihilo* *22*(2):22–23

March 2000

 

by David

Catchpoole<http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/d_catchpoole.asp>

 

Earlier this century, A female African lion, born and raised in America,

lived her entire lifetime of nine years without ever eating meat.1 In fact,

her owners, Georges and Margaret Westbeau,2 alarmed by scientists' reports

that carnivorous animals cannot live without meat, went to great lengths to

try to coax their unusual pet ('Little Tyke') to develop a taste for it.

They even advertised a cash reward for anyone who could devise a

meat-containing formula that the lioness would like. The curator of a New

York zoo advised the Westbeaus that putting a few drops of blood in Little

Tyke's milk bottle would help in weaning her, but the lioness cub refused to

touch it — even when only a single drop of blood had been added.

 

The more knowledgeable animal experts among the many visitors to

theWestbeaus' 100 acre (40 hectare) ranch also proffered advice, but

nothing

worked. Meanwhile, Little Tyke continued to do extremely well on a daily

diet of cooked grain, raw eggs and milk. By four years of age she was fully

grown and weighed 352 pounds (160 kg).

 

As Georges Westbeau writes, it was 'a young visitor' to Hidden Valley ranch

who finally put his mind at ease in response to the question of how Little

Tyke could be persuaded to eat meat (thought to be essential for carnivores

to survive):

 

[image: Lion (not 'Little Tyke')]'He turned to look at me with serious eyes,

then asked, " Don't you read your Bible? " I admitted I didn't read it as much

as I probably should. He continued, " Read Genesis

1:30<http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Gen%2B1:30 & version=KJV & showfn=on>,

and you will get your answer. " At my first opportunity I got my Bible and

turned to the passage he had indicated. To my astonishment, I read these

words: " And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and

to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have

given every green herb for meat: and it was so. " '

 

The owners of Little Tyke, though apparently not Christians, were so

reassured by this that they no longer worried about her refusal to eat meat,

and turned their attention instead to refining her 'vegetarian'3 diet

further, learning of new grains to add to the lioness's food. These numerous

grains were ground and stirred together while in the dry state, then cooked

and mixed with the milk and eggs. The lioness was fed this mixture each

morning and evening, and sometimes at midday as well. (To condition her

teeth and gums — as she steadfastly refused all offers of bones to gnaw —

Little Tyke was given heavy rubber boots to chew on, which generally lasted

about three weeks.) The lioness not only survived on this diet, she thrived.

One of America's 'most able zoo curators' apparently said that the lioness

'was the best of her species he had ever viewed.'

 

As well as Little Tyke, the Westbeaus cared for a menagerie of other animals

at their ranch. A large number of the many visitors to Hidden Valley were

motivated by the prospect of seeing 'the lion that lives with the lamb' — a

situation similar to the prophecies of Isaiah

11:6<http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Isa%2B11:6 & version=KJV & showfn=on>.

The sight of the lioness living placidly alongside sheep, cattle, and

peafowl made a profound impression on many visitors. Television footage4 and

newspaper photos of Little Tyke also moved many people, such as one who

wrote, 'Nothing has made me happier than your picture of the lion and

thelamb. It has helped me believe in

the Bible.'

 

In the light of Little Tyke's situation, along with anecdotes of other

carnivorous animals surviving on vegetarian diets,5 it is certainly easier

to relate to the Genesis account of animals living solely on plants before

Adam's Fall.6

 

Mr Westbeau's observation of the lioness that 'To condition her stomach she

would spend an hour at a time eating the succulent tall grass in

thefields', is also a vivid reminder of

the prophecies of Isaiah

11:7<http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Isa%2B11:7 & version=KJV & showfn=on>a\

nd

65:25<http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Isa%2B65:25 & version=KJV & showfn=on\

>,

'… the lion will eat straw like the ox.' References and notes

 

1.

 

Westbeau, G., Little Tyke: the story of a gentle vegetarian lioness,

Theosophical Publishing House, IL, USA, 1986. (Information is drawn from pp.

3–6, 17, 32–35, 59–60, 113–114.)

2.

 

The lioness had been given to the Westbeaus as a badly mauled one-day-old

cub, by the zoo where her mother was kept. The mother had killed all cubs

from her four earlier pregnancies immediately after birth. This time though,

anxious zoo attendants were standing by, ready to scramble to

rescue theoffspring at

the moment of delivery. With 'Little Tyke' they succeeded — but not

before the mother's quick and powerful jaws had injured the cub's right

front leg.

3.

 

Many people would include eggs in 'vegetarian' diets today, if

unfertilised, as no killing of animals is involved. Though it seems unlikely

that eggs (or milk for adult animals) were part of the pre-Fall

diet, thepoint to note here is that lions do not need meat to survive.

Many plants

are now extinct; it is highly likely that there were very rich protein

sources in the pre-Fall / pre-Flood plant kingdom.

4.

 

Sadly, while in Hollywood for filming of a nation-wide television

broadcast, Little Tyke contracted pneumonia, and she died a few weeks later.

 

5.

 

While living in Indonesia in the 1980s, several families told me that

they never fed meat to their pet dogs — though it is possible that bones

might have been present in the scraps fed to them. Other reports suggest

that this is a widespread phenomenon in that country.

6.

 

The Bible does not give us details of how the change from plant-eating to

meat-eating has occurred after the Fall; one possibility is by divine

'redesign'. Hence, even if lions today did need meat to survive, it would

not invalidate Genesis. See Answers in Genesis' The Answers Book for a

fuller discussion.