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CNN Live At Daybreak

Lioness from Italy Moves to South Africa

Aired January 28, 2002 - 05:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In South Africa, a lioness that grew up as a house pet feasting on a diet of pasta is being introduced to red meat and a man. It's a love story that roars.

CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN JOHANNESBURG BUREAU CHIEF (voice- over): First, meet Danny (ph), a 7-year-old lion who was almost a trophy on somebody's wall but for this man, long since his best friend and soul mate.

Heuer rescued Danny from what is known as a canned hunt.

KEN HEUER, LION RESCUER: But they don't want to hunt the lion one on one, they want to enclosure, there's Dandy (ph) there. Put a rifle through there, just rest it in the thing, and pick a nice shot so that you don't damage the head and then just blow him away.

HUNTER-GAULT: Heuer managed to buy Danny out of the hunt but not his mate. Since then, he's had no female company except for the occasional visitor.

(on camera): Hey, I get a big kiss too, huh? Sorry not to be your type, but hey, guess what, Laya's (ph) coming. Let's hope you won't treat her this way.

(voice-over): Enter Laya, a 5-year-old lioness who's lived in Italy all her life, sold by a zoo to an Italian who raised her as a house pet. Personal problems forced him to return her to the zoo. These pictures from Natuno (ph), Italy convinced Heuer that he had to get Laya out of Italy and home to Africa despite the fact that she'd never met another lion nor eaten meat and that the chances of her living like these lions who will be her neighbors in a private nature reserve near Johannesburg. Its owner is providing Laya with private quarters.

After a 24-hour journey, Laya finally arrives in the motherland and is soon whisked off to her new home. Taking her first steps on African soil, Laya seemed a bit perplexed. Danny is intensely curious. Laya refuses to eat. Her Italian former owner, traveling with her to help the transition, complains that the spaghetti is cooked wrong, not like he used to make. Eventually, Laya will be introduced to meat.

(on camera): Now they're trying beer. I mean clearly the lady lioness from Italy isn't as interested as the Dandy lion from South Africa, but it's hoped that over the next month they'll find common ground and lion love.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, CNN, Kromdraai, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Everyone say aw.

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