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While learning to care for his cubs, Jonathan slowly began to realize how much ignorance and abuse actually occurred in the animal trade. Then he met Sampson.

Sampson spent the first eight months of his life chained to a box so that people could have their pictures taken with him. Because lions are not considered endangered, people often purchase them, use them until they can no longer be safely handled by amateurs, then have them put down. A new lion is purchased and the cycle starts again. Sampson was such a lion. Feeling terrible, Jonathan rescued the lion, thereby starting a chain of events that snowballed into the rescue of a wide variety of exotic animals from all over the world.

The show Jonathan was working on stayed in pre-production for three years. During that time, he rescued and adopted so many animals he had to put the show on hiatus in order to take care of them all.

Eventually, the funding for the show ran out and Jonathan was forced to give up everything he owned for his animals. He even remodeled one of the cages in the compound into a living space where he spent four years living with over 30 large cats and wolves.

"The first and only one of its kind!"

Then in 1995, Jonathan opened Predator's Paradise at the Aladdin Hotel on the Strip. The first and only one of its kind. The education wildlife theme park was an absolute success, prompting him to open the much larger Keepers of the Wild. Through Keepers of the Wild, he hopes to educate the public world wide and set new standards for the treatment of wild animals.

Jonathan's motives are simple. "We have come close to destroying
the natural habitats of many animals. The number of endangered is
growing rapidly. Only with education, time, and love will we be able
to save our wildlife. Being concerned is not enough, we must actively
pursue answers to the problems that face our natural environment."
(Sampson is pictured to the right).

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As Jonathan grew...
his reputation as a Dutch "Dr. Doolittle" grew as well. The neighborhood children began bringing him their pets, as well as wild animals they had found that were sick or had been hurt. In the winter, Jonathan took to wandering through the woods looking for crows, sparrows and other birds that may have had their wings frozen. He would take them all home, rehabilitate them, and then release them back into the wild.

Jonathan immigrated to North America at the age of 16 where he continued his love affair with animals and began a career in show business. After establishing himself as a producer, creator, and performer in Las Vegas, Jonathan began working on a multi-million dollar production on the Las Vegas "Strip". At this time, he acquired two tiger cubs.