Can the Lion Man and his mum make up for the sake of Zion?

AND so the saga continues.
Zion Wildlife Gardens
admitted in court this
week that it failed to take
steps to protect Dalu Mncube, who
died after he was mauled by a
white tiger in 2009.
What the company has
admitted to not doing is anyone's
guess, as the outline of the
Department of Labour's case
against Zion Wildlife Gardens has
not been made public. The
company's guilty plea in the
district court in Whangarei came
with a defiant ``but we still think
we didn't do anything wrong''.
The plea was apparently made
 

to avoid unnecessary stress to
Dalu's family.
Let's hope then, that Zion's
continued denial that it didn't do
anything wrong does not cause
hurt or stress to his family.
Because if Zion didn't do
anything wrong, the prospective
pool of guilty parties narrows
somewhat. And would include
Dalu and the tiger.
 It is a stance
 

typical of Zion Wildlife Gardens
and the Busch family.
Obstinate, defiant and
stubborn. But then, they are in a
unique, difficult business
surrounded by unique
personalities and dedicated _ to
the point of being scary _ fans.
The reality series that made Craig
Busch an international cult hero
was Play School compared with
the real drama that surrounds this
family and its business.
The Lion Man has been plagued
by three-in-a-bed scenarios,
 relationship break-ups, assault
accusations, rumours (unfounded)
of animals escaping, debt, and then
 

there's the mother and son rift ...
it's the stuff that soap opera plot
writers only dream about.
At the centre of it all is
potentially a world-class tourism
attraction. But Zion needs the Lion
 

Man _ he is the star attraction.
Without him, it is much like
watching an Elvis impersonator
... good entertainment, but  not the
real thing.
The challenge here is that Craig
Busch is an extraordinary animal
handler. The people operating
Zion are not in his league as
animal handlers, but arguably
have more business nous.
The two sides need each other,
it seems.
Could they operate in the same
room together, let alone the same
business?
Only with a strong,
independent third party, willing to
 

spend long hours as business
adviser and mediator. Any takers?
In a few months, we will have
thousands of visitors pouring
through Northland's gates for the
Rugby World Cup.
Many of them will be English,
and curious, having seen the Lion
Man television series in the UK.
If they drive to Gray Rd and
stand at the garden's gates, what
will they see, I wonder.
No one wants to see Zion fail _
it has fantastic potential as a
tourism attraction.
But it is unlikely to realise its
full potential while the current
sideshow drags on.