Zamba: The True Story of the Greatest Lion That Ever Lived

Front Cover
Harper Collins, Jul 5, 2005 - Biography & Autobiography - 258 pages

One day, Ralph Helfer, a celebrated animal behaviorist, received a surprising phone call. His close friends had found a young lion near death by the Zambezi River in Zambia and had rescued him and brought him back to the States. Ralph had often spoken of wanting to raise a lion from a young age -- he had been developing a philosophy of training animals based on love instead of fear, which he termed "affection training." Weeks later, Zamba, then a two-month-old cub, arrived. As Helfer peeked into Zamba's box, he saw a small lion cub tilt his head, wait a single beat, then amble right into his arms. Hugging Helfer's neck with his soft paws, Zamba collapsed on his chest, got comfortable, and fell asleep, their faces touching. They didn't move for the next two hours. Zamba was home.

For the next eighteen years, Zamba would appear in many motion pictures, on television, and in the pages of magazines. Along with Helfer's other famous animal actors -- including Modoc the circus elephant and Gentle Ben the bear -- Zamba proved Helfer's theories resoundingly correct, and affection training revolutionized the way animals are trained and treated in the motion picture industry. Through both happy and tough times the bond between Helfer and Zamba developed into the most important of their lives, and Zamba is now enshrined in Helfer's heart and the memories of moviegoers everywhere as the greatest lion that ever lived. With stories that range from the hilarious to the incredibly sad and poignant, Zamba will give any Lion King fan a new hero and touch every animal lover's heart.

 

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
11
Section 3
17
Section 4
24
Section 5
34
Section 6
43
Section 7
49
Section 8
56
Section 17
126
Section 18
132
Section 19
142
Section 20
153
Section 21
166
Section 22
177
Section 23
185
Section 24
193

Section 9
67
Section 10
76
Section 11
82
Section 12
86
Section 13
94
Section 14
99
Section 15
108
Section 16
116
Section 25
201
Section 26
205
Section 27
224
Section 28
228
Section 29
249
Section 30
257
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2005)

Ralph Helfer is a well-known Hollywood animal trainer who was one of the first to use affection and kindness to train wild animals. He is the author of The Beauty of the Beasts, and he lives in Los Angeles and Kenya, where he leads safari tours.