Here you go. Read, and feel embarrassed that the public see this as some sort of creditable zoological spokesperson:
Transcript
Craig Busch Interview
Reporter : Jennifer Humphries
Title: AUDIO: Exclusive interview with "lion man" Craig Busch, as Kingdom of Zion opens to public
Dated Thursday 5 April 2012 posted 16:37 hours
Sourcing: Radio Live
AUDIO: Exclusive interview with "lion man" Craig Busch, as Kingdom of Zion opens to public - Audio Player - Audio - RadioLIVE
Interview duration:
17 minutes 45 seconds
Total duration of Audio
17 minutes 45 seconds.
J.H
And how do they normally react when you go towards them?
CB
Um they normally come up to me. This one here is Imvula and as you can see, they’re all eyes for dad.
J.H ( Makes a bit of a laughing sound.)
CB
Hiya girls. (addressing the lionesses Imvula and Amafu)
They’re beautiful animals.
Very misunderstood.
J.H
How does it feel with you being back here and being able to communicate with them again?
C.B
Um I think it’s a relief and a blessing to be back.
If I hada left it another few weeks these animals would not have been here.
J. H
Why’d you say that?
C.B
Um because the people that were here, we all know who they were, were about to sell the whole lot.
J.H
So what kind of relief have you got just being back here then?
C.B
Well the animals are safe, that’s all I care about.
And right now I’m bringing their demeanour back into shape and they’re happy again.
But there is about three or four animals that need some serious help.
J.H
And just tell us a little bit about that. What kind of work you got to do
C.B
There is things to do with teeth that needs sorting out that should have been sorted years ago.
Um and now there teeth have gone rotten some of them.
They’ve got big infections that can kill them.
Ah…another animal’s got an eye problem.
And if I don’t see to that – it will lose its’ eye.
So these are some of the problems I’m dealing with now.
Ah of course if I didn’t leave this place here and stuck with my animals doing what I do best in life there’d be no problems with these animals.
There wouldn’t be other animals dead and there certainly wouldn’t be a human dead.
J.H
You talk briefly there about Dalu.
What’s it like being here when Dalu not being here.?
C.B.
Um..well..it took a long time to..
You know it’s not many people in the world can actually work with these animals, but of course when you teach someone they gotta listen.
And ..ah I think poor Dalu got blackmailed by the people that were managing him, that is why he is dead.
J.H
Would things have been different if you were?
C.B
If I was here and um of course I had a contract while I was here. I abided by my contract.
Every single clause was breached um that’s why..Dalu’s..death.
There’s a clause in the contract saying ‘nothing shall interfere with the management of the wildlife’.
That was breached – nothing was listened to.
And that’s why there’s problems here.
J.H
How would things have been different with Dalu when he went into the cage and all of that if you had been here?
How did you manage things that weren’t being done once you went…
C.B
There’s no problem when everybody was listening to me there’s no problems then.
Um..he…knew not to go in with those male tigers. Sometimes I even wouldn’t do that – I’d lock them off.
Um …there’s no-one here with enough experience to be able to handle them.
And certainly didn’t have enough experience for that.
Um..he knew not to ever go in there.
Um…and I don’t know why –
I do know why, because he was blackmailed into it, to do that for crowd approval.
Crowd entertainment which is not very good entertainment.
J.H
Would he have gone in there with you?
C.B
He would – he would go by my guidelines um…but if something’s not right, not feeling right and the animals in a funny mood – I wouldn’t do that.
Even today.. um..the white tigers that are here, the male ones, I’d never ever go in with them again.
J.H
Why’s that?
CB
Because whatever’s been done while I’ve been gone they’ve obviously been harassed or intimated by some means…um I can see there’s problems.
J.H.
So how would you feel ..um…going in with the cats now. They way you used to – would you still want to do that?
CB
Be absolutely the same as it was yester…well.. three years ago.
Um the cats love me – they always will.
Um look over here – Zion’s waiting for me to come over here.
J.H
And is this normal. Is this normally what happens when you come out of the house.
CB
Yes it is. They’re all sort of all eyes and they want me to come over to them.
And they can’t understand why I’m not going in there with them.
(Lion noises)
Hi you guys
Hello
(Rattle of the fence)
He’s jealous right now (referring to the lion Zion).
Shikira’s coming too close to me.
He’s telling her to go away, so that he can be with Dad.
So that’s how they are.
You’ve just seen it.
J.H
What noise can we hear down there then?
CB
That’s two tigers fighting.
Um they never used to fight when I was here. Now they do.
That’s ah… something I’m trying to work out, what’s going on.
Um…
(Lions roaring)
And of course that sets all the lions off.
(More lion roaring)
J.H
So they’re all reacting to each other now.
(More Lions roaring)
CB
They’re reacting to the tigers fighting.
(More Lion roaring)
I think it’s an applause
(J.H laughs)
J.H
They know they’re being recorded.
So how frustrating is it for you?
I mean Zion is obviously um I imagine still your favourite to be like this and not be able to go in and and interact -
CB
They’re all….they’re all my favourite.
Um …it is frustrating not to be able to go in there.
Um…but you know I’ve got patience, I’ve got good stamina and more endurance than most people.
So, I got patience – I’ll be right.
J.H.
So where’d you go with the Department of Labour. Have you..you’ve got to put forward a good case to let you back in there.
CB
We’ll just wait and see what happens.
J.H
Are you confident that you think that you will be able to do that again.
CB
Well my life is working with these cats.
I’ve worked with them for 22 years now. And that is my career.
So, if that’s going to be damaged in any way we’ll just see what happens.
J.H
Just tell me what it was like when you walked back in here um for the first time properly moved back into your house.
What was the feeling like for you when the reaction by the lions and tigers.
CB
The cats, some of them were – sort of on me straight away like…wanting to talk to dad...wanting to see dad. Other cats were confused.
They started roaring quite a bit, and it was lots of different noises.
They roared for a good couple of days.
And every time I walked out they called me over.
Um..if I drove away or walked away they didn’t like that in case well..in case I went away again for three years.
They don’t like that.
Lions. Especially lions don’t like change in life.
They don’t like it if their house moves – let alone if their dad goes.
J.H
So when you look around here now three years ago obviously since you were here what do you think when you look at the enclosures and just the general how everything is.
CB
I think it’s an absolute mess and a disgrace.
J.H
And just tell me why
CB
Um…things here been put together in an unsafe way.
Ah..very dangerous to handle by the staff that used to be here.
And, whoever put this together needs their head read.
JH
Do you think you can fix it?
CB
That’s what I’m here for.
JH
How long do you think it will take you
CB
Well you can plan on three months but – you normally triple that.
And it’ll just takes as long as it can be… you know just takes to do to fix everything
Um…but I’m looking around here…and..ah..there’s an awful lot to do
An awful lot.
Ah and at the moment, I’m the only one building things.
JH
Now I know tours have been coming out. Coming through in the last few weeks and again at Easter you’re open.
Are you encouraging people to come.
I know you just said it’s in a bit of a mess.
But is it still a good tourist attraction for people to come to?
CB
Well the first thing I’ve done is made it safe for the tourists coming in.
That part’s done.
So all the OSH requirements is up to standard.
And that’s probably the most important thing.
The areas where it’s still too dangerous for the staff I handle those areas myself.
Um but that’s not going to affect the public coming in.
It’s more internal and inside the enclosures.
Um as you can over here, you’ll see a gate just over there…
J.H
Hmm (in response to CB)
CB
That’s been pushed open by two male lions to come in with this lion here.
JH
Hmm (in response to CB)
CB
All right now this has all been built wrong.
It’s all been constructed wrong.
And it’s unsafe, internally inside the enclosure.
So I’ve got to get to that to fix that yet..
I’ll probably do that before the weekend.
J.H
You also need to get the lions out to get in.
CB
What I’ve done, I’ve separated two already.
I’ve just got to separate him – and then I can go and sort that out.
But this is what I’m up against.
Um things are…that are not engineered properly to suit these kind of animals.
And of course you wouldn’t know what to do unless you had experience.
J.H
How do you feel when tours are coming through again now.
I’m sure people are keen to see you again.
What’s the feeling like.
CB
I like it when I see smiley faces on people and they’re happy and and seeing the animals.
I like it when the animals have got a big smile on their face as well.
And ah…when the people see me communicating with these animals they get a lot of enjoyment out of that.
JH
Do you feel like this is where you belong?
CB
Well I belong with lions…
It could be anywhere in the world though.
JH
Tell me a little bit about Africa and what you were doing over there and how your life was different over there.
CB
Well I needed to get away from New Zealand.
Um…it’s quite obvious until I sort this mess out
Um so I went to Africa.
It’s my favourite place in the world.
I love all of Africa.
So what would I be working with in Africa?
Lions.
That’s what I’ve been doing.
JH
Is that about conservation or..is it similar to Zion.
What is it like over there.
CB
Um…I deal with the word more preservation.
Um..conservation is nature.
That’s what conservation is.
That’s the only real thing um..that is nature.
You can only lean that and help ‘preservate’ these animals, plants and trees; what’s on this planet.
JH
Will get people get to see errm what you’re up to in Africa . Will that come to our screens.
CB
It will do at a later stage.
When I’m ready to get it out.
JH
And do you feel like there’s a real hunger from people to see the Lion Man in action.
CB
I think so um specially in the UK and um the people I have talked to in New Zealand can’t wait to see another TV show.
Um you know it does take its toll on me. It takes a lot of work to put these shows together and lot of nutting out as well.
Everything relies on me, so for one man its an awful lot of work
JH
Do you feel like you’re like it’s its damaged the Lion Man all all the bad publicity that the park’s had and everything’s had?
CB
Bad publicity has come from one lot of people.
And that was the people who were here before me and we know who they are.
Um… now everybody in the world probably wondering how’s this got to the state it has.
Well…to start with just over a year ago a High Court Judge ordered discovery on a production company called Primal Productions which is owned by Patricia Busch and Philip Smith who also owns great Southern Television.
Well they still haven’t produced the discovery, all the documents, all the money they were meant to have brought in to pay for the mortgage, to pay for these animals, to pay to me.
It’s all gone missing.
So there’s big question marks and I would say this is what this is all about.
JH
Just explain that little bit because I’m not sure that people understand discovery.
This is the third series of the Lion Man.
CB
The third series was actually sold without my permission.
It was sold illegally.
It was sold illegally to All3 Media who knew they bought it illegally cos’ we warned them.
Ah..TVNZ weren’t aware of it .
They had the wool pulled over their eyes..um..but they weren’t aware of it so that’s a little bit different.
Um..but you know they put this into receivership.
Didn’t put any money back to it.
What is that – that’s a white collared bank robbery.
They did the same to the IRD.
That is embarrassing to me.
That is not on.
JH
How..how do you feel now when you think about your mum and your sister.
CB
Well they created their own situations so they need to live what’s ah…sort of…left of it really..
Um…I don’t have much to say about them.
JH
It just seems so sad that a family’s kind of come to this.
CB
Well I’m trying trying to project good things in the world – meanwhile they’re doing the opposite.
So you draw your own conclusions.
JH
Does it hurt your feelings when you hear they don’t want you here.
You’re not the right person for the lions.
Does that bother you.
CB
Well I don’t ah…they killed three animals and killed a person.
So who is the right person?
They certainly aren’t.
JH
Now um..obviously when it’s gone into receivership and things have changed an awful lot, but, there’s a few things that keep coming up and you’re probably not going to want to talk about them too much.
Things like the declawing.
You wouldn’t even -
(Lions roaring in the background)
CB
Um…It’s for many years in the world is you know people have declawed not just me, hundreds of people around the world.
Just about every movie you see on TV they..the front claws of an animal is de.. you know declawed.
Um..people are probably not aware of that.
I don’t declaw animals any more…um…but I get more scars now.
JH
So why have you changed your mind then?
Why don’t you do it any more.
CB
It’s pretty much because it’s you know in this era we live in people don’t see it as something they’d like to see.
But they don’t work with the animals.
So you actually work with animals so you’d never know.
JH
And it you don’t think it caused any harm to the animals by doing it in the first place.
CB
Well I’ve never seen anything to tell me any different.
Um the animals’re absolutely fine.
Most of these animals are like that.
They look fine to me.
JH
Okay..
So just tell me..just give me a little bit of a tour of who we’re looking at now then.
CB
Well we’re right in front of Zion and Shikira right now.
Boy over there looking at us is Laduma the big white lion..
He’s a beautiful lion to work with that guy.
Over here is Amafu. That’s Imvula on the rock over there, and just come out of his den box is Gandor.
JH
And what’s your ideal situation for the park.
I mean I know you’re looking forward to Easter but beyond that.
What what are your ideal plans for this place.
CB
Well we’ll start with Easter that’s ah..we’ve been open for a few weeks now.
But Easter is the main opening to let everyone know that we’re here, um..and the animals are in better shape.
Come and say hello to the animals.
Come and say hello to the Lion Man.
And come and enjoy yourselves.
Um..but that’s just the start of things.
We’re going to rebuild this place.
Make it look how it should have done.
Ah three or four years ago build everything to suit these animals.
To help enrich their lives.
To give them a happy face.
Obviously I would love to see these animals in the wild doing their job they’re meant to be doing.
That’s what they’re here for in this world.
To keep a balance.
Um but because of greedy humans that kill them everywhere around the world, that’s why they’re extinct.
My main mission is to help that survive for future years after I go.
JH
For people coming to Zion, it’s more than a zoo, its you know - it’s real interaction.
But will things …..you talked about things like overnight experiences – things like that.
I mean will that something you’d look at?
CB
We’ll very shortly in the next few weeks we’re going to be putting on the website um..Kingdom of Zion Website and the Lion Man Website ah “Come and stay with the Lion Man”
You can come and spend one day and night or four days if you want to. So that’s going to be happening and you can live how I live my life with the animals.
You might even end up on camera I would say if you wanted to be.
JH
So how are you going to split things now.
Obviously you’ve got a lifestyle in Africa and a life style in New Zealand.
How does that work for you personally?
CB
Um well obviously I’m going to have to do a bit of a juggling act.
Um…I love it here with my animals
Um..I love animals in Africa as well and you know filmings not just here.
My main filming is other parts of the world not just Africa.
So it’s all over the world.
Um I do like filming lots of different things with problems in the world.
I like front lining things.
Most animal problems are caused by humans.
But that’s what I’ll be looking to in the future.
(Lions roaring in the background)
JH
Do you see a future here or in Africa. Or can you do both
CB
We’ll have to wait and see.
