-Ralph Helfer
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.
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I thought this was a beautiful story about a remarkable lion and the man who loved him and shared him with Hollywood. Their incredible relationship is all the more exceptional because it was built at a time when dominance over animals and fear was the training protocol of the 1950s. Ralph developed and used love, kindness, compassion and reward instead of the traditional punishment training practices of the era - making Zamba the only lion Hollywood wanted to use with their actors.
I felt Ralph Helfer was revolutionary and I completely applaud his efforts and successes at changing the way the Hollywood animal industry trained their animals.
Caveat: there are some very sad stories included in this memoir. Have tissues handy.
Heidi Y.