A Kenyan government official wants to send two gay lions for conversion therapy.
Two male lions made a splash in the country this week after having sex in front of a wildlife photographer.
The lions, who live in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, were photographed by Paul Goldstein.
Goldstein captured the scene as one lion gently mounted the other. He said: “When lions mate, it normally last a few seconds.
“These two were at it for over a minute. The obvious affection afterwards was very evident, as opposed to the violent withdrawal when male and female mate.”
(Flickr/eileenmak)
But the news has not gone down well with Ezekiel Mutua, the head of the government-backed Kenya Film Classification Board
Mutua, who has expressed his “revulsion” to homosexuality in humans previously, did not like it on display in the animal kingdom.
Speaking to Nairobi News he suggested that the lions should go for “counselling” to cure their sexuality.
He said: “This is a first and interesting to hear that there are two male lions in love. Some research needs to be done.
“It is not normal.
“These animals need counselling because probably they have been influenced by gays who have gone to national parks and behaved badly.”
He added: “I mean where on earth have you ever heard something like this happening?
“The demonic spirits inflicting in humans seems to have now caught up with animals.
“That is why I will say isolate the crazy gay animals, study their behaviour because it is not normal.
“The very idea of sex even among animals is for procreation. Two male lions cannot procreate and therefore we will lose the lion species.”
Speaking to Mail Online, Goldstein opened up about watching the lions have sex.
He said: “I was guiding in the Maasai Mara recently and we saw two impressive alpha males in perfect light.
“After a while they stood together, in perfect symmetry. What then happened was remarkable.”
Goldstein called the mating display “astonishing,” adding: “I normally loathe any sort of humanising with animals, and our documentary channels are full of it”.
But he said, “this was not only surprising but it was impossible not to smile.
“When lions mate, it normally last a few seconds,” Goldstein said.
“These two were at it for over a minute and the obvious affection afterwards was very evident, as opposed to the violent withdrawal when male and female mate.
“Even as he dismounted he did not back off as is normal after mating, he crept round to the other male’s muzzle, for a nuzzle and threw a conspiratorial wink his way.”
It is of course not abnormal for many animals – hundreds, in fact – to engage in homosexual activities or partnerships.
Dogs, for instance, certainly have gay sex.
Earlier this year, a polar bear called Szenja died just weeks after her same-sex partner of 20 years was transferred to a different zoo.
The bear, who was left alone at SeaWorld San Diego after her companion Snowflake was moved to Pittsburgh Zoo, died of a broken heart, animals rights charity Peta claimed.
Earlier this year, two male lions shocked visitors to the UK’s Yorkshire Wildlife Park by engaging in a mating display as a lioness looked on from just a few feet away.
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