THE British safari park owner who was savaged by one of his own lions is being nursed back to health by his step-daughter Emma.

Mike Hodge, 72, from Wilmslow in Cheshire, suffered a broken jaw and lacerations following the brutal mauling at the Marakele Animal Sanctuary in South Africa on Saturday.

His severe injuries will keep him in hospital for weeks, Sun Online can reveal.

But friends of Mike and wife Chrissy have said that Emma, 29, has been making a fuss of him in hospital and wants to get him back to their home on the lion sanctuary as soon as possible.

The big cat lover says he is "devastated" at the loss of the lion, named Shamba who was shot dead by a ranger in order to save the Brit during the terrifying attack.

Mike is recovering at the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg where family spokesperson Bernadette Maguire told The Sun he was "up and about" but was still traumatised at the loss of his favourite lion.

She said: "He is very upset about the loss of Shamba and I think he is trying to put on a brave face but he is really battling to come to terms with what happened. He raised Shamba from a cub.

"His entire family are devastated by the loss of Shamba who was bred at the sanctuary and bottle fed by Mike.

“He was 10 years old and was like family to them so this is a double tragedy.”

Bernadette said that although Mike's injuries were "extensive" he should make a full recovery providing infection does not set.

She added: "It will be a long road ahead but the prognosis is looking good for him".

He is now up and walking but suffered severe bite and claw wounds to the back of his neck and his back along with a broken jaw.

These heart-warming pictures of Emma taken in 2013, when she was aged 24, show how she shares the love of lions with her step-dad and has earned the trust and respect of both lions and tigers.

In one picture, Mike stands in his "uniform" of khaki shorts and shirts as Emma fusses over two white lions.

Other images show Brit-born Emma cuddling two lionesses, a fully grown white lion and a white tiger.

There is also a pic with mum Chrissy on Mothers Day 2016 in which she calls her "the best mum in the world".

One image posted on social media shows Mike posing with some of his monkeys from the reserve which is wife captioned: "He truly is living his dream, it was lions (still is) but now monkeys are added to ‘the dream.’”

Emma is also photographed enjoying a night in with her mum, step-dad and South African boyfriend Oliver.

A family friend told The Sun Online: "Emma came over from England when she was about 10 or 11 and her mum and dad had a dream of saving lions and looking after them which grew over the years into a proper park.

"She was brought up with lions and tigers like her old friends in England would have been brought up with cats and dogs.

"Emma is totally at home with them and shares the passion her parents do for them and works long days at the Marakele Predator Centre and I can't ever see her giving up the lifestyle.  Africa runs through her".

The family have shut down their Marakele Animal Sanctuary Facebook page after being harassed by online trolls.

A source at the park said that while anger at the shooting of the lion was understandable, most of the people attacking the family online were not fully informed of the circumstances of Saturday's incident.

The source said:"Mike had not just gone for a wander into the enclosure for no reason but this attack happened at the end of a regular daily trip into Shamba's enclosure in a safari vehicle with a cage on the back.

"Tourists pay to go inside and there are chickens placed on the top of the cage for the lions to feed on when it drives into the enclosure.

"Mike has done this thousands of times and Shamba is almost always guaranteed to be the first on top and eats the chickens and the tourists get a real close up view of him and get fantastic photographs.

"If you look at the video you can see when the experience is over Shamba can be seen near the vehicle sniffing the ground and distracted by something and Mike wondered what it was on the ground.

"A ranger can be seen outside the fence as usual calling Shamba away from the truck so Mike can get out and open the gates to allow the lorry through which he does almost every day of the year.

"On this occasion he deviated and went over to look at what had distracted Shamba and was away from the vehicle.

"For whatever reason Shamba turned and attacked and Mike tried to get back into the vehicle but the lion was too quick.

"Mike was not showboating or showing off in the enclosure. He thought Shamba was far enough away. He was curious about what had distracted Shamba and had gone to have a look thinking it was safe.

MOST READ IN NEWS

"The attack was quick and a ranger with a gun fired a warning shot which stopped the attack but Shamba would not move away from Mike so he could not be rescued and he was a life or death situation.

"The decision to shoot Shamba was a terrible one but there was no other way to save his life.

"People must be aware that Shamba was not shot after Mike had been rescued as a punishment for the attack but that it was done to save his life as he would not move away even though shots were fired.

"The family loved that lion and nobody is more upset than they at his loss."

Source: Read Full Article