What would it be like for you to wake up every morning in the same house with a lion? And if a puma walks nearby? The size and potential for aggression of these animals do not give us the thought of keeping them at home instead of a kitten or dog.
Some still decide to have large predators like a lion or a panther at home, but, unfortunately, this does not always end well for them. A striking example of this is the Berberovs. The tragedy happened to the son of this family precisely because of their unreasonable desire for home exotics. It happened way back in 1980. Then the news about the incident in the Azerbaijani family quickly spread around the world.
The first lion in the family
The Berberov family consisted of Lev Lvovich, an architect by profession, his wife Nina Petrovna and children - Roman and Eva. According to Nina Berberova, her husband was very fond of animals. They had many pets. Among them were cats, dogs, parrots, raccoons and snakes. When the opportunity arose, they did not refuse to get someone bigger. This is where the sad story of the Berberovs begins.
One day at the zoo they saw a sickly lion cub that they wanted to euthanize. The Berberovs decided to save the poor animal by taking it home. After a while, the strengthened lion King became a full-fledged member of their family.
Not Born Free
As Nina Petrovna admits, they had an idea to return an adult lion to the zoo, but the animal staged a real rebellion against this. Resisting with all his strength, King almost overturned the car in which he was brought, although he was not at all aggressive.
In the 1986 film Born Free, based on the short story of the same name by Joy Adamson, the family that bred the lioness named Elsa ends up releasing her into the wild. However, the Berberovs were told that King would no longer be able to live in freedom. Unlike Elsa ("Born Free"), this lion, according to experts, was completely unprepared for such a life. So King stayed with the Berberovs until his death.
King's stellar career
A tamed lion is a godsend for many filmmakers. King began to be filmed. The most famous film with his participation is "The Incredible Adventures of Italians in Russia." Of course, the ubiquitous press could not bypass the family with an unusual pet. At that time, their family was full of headlines in many popular publications, several documentaries were made about them.
But everything showed that the Berberov family kept a lion in their apartment not for the sake of fame or money - they all loved him very much. For example, Lev Lvovich and NinaPetrovna put up with the fact that King repeatedly climbed up to spend the night in their family bed. The head of the family more than once ended up on the floor as a result of this. In everyday life, King behaved like a normal house cat: he licked the guests and hide in the corner when he was shouted at.
Bewildered neighbors
Lev Berberov, of course, more than once made their neighbors worried. First of all, they were annoyed by the terrible stench coming from their apartment. The opportunity to have an apartment in a prestigious district of Baku seemed to them now not so wonderful. In addition, this rather big kitten needed a daily walk. Surely the neighbors tried not to leave their apartments during that morning period when King went for a walk.
And it happened that King woke up at night and made a typical roar. It is unlikely that the neighbors who heard this had pleasant dreams after that. And what a roar, probably, was heard when the lion rolled over from his hind legs to his front, playing with the dog Chapik …
King's death
That day turned out to be one of the most difficult that the Berberovs had ever experienced. The tragedy occurred during the filming of a film about Italians in Russia. The lion was standing at the window when a young man appeared behind the glass, teasing the animal in every possible way. King was very playful by nature, this behavior of the young man prompted him to stand on his hind legs, squeeze out the glass, run up to the young man and knock him to the floor.
Nina Berberova is sure that the young man's behavior prompted the lion in the first place. And secondly, on the set of histhey were just teaching a scene where he had to catch up with a man and knock him to the ground. Whatever it was, but for this action King paid with his life.
At that moment, a police officer was just passing by, who had a weapon with him. It is difficult now to say how this fight between King and the young man would have ended without the intervention of the police, because it is not completely known whether the lion had such harmless intentions. In the end, for the man, everything ended with only a few scratches, and the lion lost his life. The day after the death of the animal, the Berberovs' dog died, and the family members themselves fell into deep despondency.
King II
Shortly after the death of the lion, the Berberovs, whose tragedy had severely wounded their psyche, decided to get a King II. As Nina Petrovna admits, she was against this idea, but Lev Lvovich insisted. Vladimir Vysotsky and Marina Vlady, writer Yuri Yankovsky and screenwriter Sergei Obraztsov at that time provided Berberov with great assistance in acquiring a new lion cub.
A pet from the Kazan zoo has become a new member of the Berberov family. The story of the new lion cub in this family began in a completely different way. He didn't need care. But from the very beginning, he began to demand respect for himself. He fell in love with Roma Berberov very much and obeyed him implicitly in everything. The boy could even climb a lion on horseback. No other animal would allow this.
King II filming
Like King I, King II also became a movie star. In 1975, based on the real life facts of the Berberov family, Yuri Yakovlevwrote the script for a new film called "I have a lion." The children of the Berberovs took part in it. During filming, the lion showed the nature of a predator more than once.
For example, when Konstantin Bromberg, the director of the film, demanded that the lion jump into cold water, he plunged a sharp fang into his leg, leaving a hole 8 cm deep. And the camera assistant, due to one sudden movement, was completely left without a piece finger. Nevertheless, the film was shot to the end, the audience liked it. After such a successful ending, King was invited to star in another picture, but it didn’t work out with her anymore …
Death of Lev Lvovich Berberov
In 1978, the Berberovs experienced another grief. The tragedy this time happened to the head of the family. Lev Lvovich died of a heart attack, leaving his wife fully responsible for the children and a house full of animals. By the way, there was still a black puma among the large animals in the Berberovs' house.
The head of the Communist Party provided the Berberov family with invaluable assistance at that time. Meat was allocated for animals, they were even given a minibus. However, the maintenance of the lion at that time for the Berberovs became an unbearable burden, they planned to hand it over to the zoo in the near future.
King II also struggled with the death of the "leader". At first he looked everywhere for him. Then he began to get Lev Lvovich's things, lay down on them with his whole massive body and hugged them with his huge paws. According to Nina Petrovna, he did not then become more aggressive towards her and the children.
The murder of Roma Berberov and KingII
The day of November 24, 1980 began in the most usual way for both Nina Petrovna and her son Roma and pet King. The most terrible in the life of a woman and the last in the life of Roma and King, this day was already later. Nina Petrovna went to the publishing house in the morning about the book. Berberova came up with the idea of publishing their common creation with her husband about all their pets.
When she returned, she found King in a not very friendly mood. After she fed her son, who had just returned from school, she carried the meat into the room where the lion was. The animal suddenly attacked her with all its massive carcass, knocked her to the floor and severely tore her head. This was not exactly his normal behavior.
There are several versions of how the lion killed 14-year-old Roma Berberov. One of them says that the beast was intoxicated by the blood that appeared on the head of Nina Petrovna after he scratched it. According to another hypothetical scenario, a black cougar, then living in the Berberovs' house, was involved in the case. In any case, one thing is known - Roma tried to stop the angry animal, for which he paid with his life. Arriving at the scene, the police shot the lion, and with it the cougar.
The further life of Nina Berberova
Nina Petrovna found out about her son's death only after she was discharged from the hospital. The shocking news knocked the woman down again, she spent three months in the hospital. She did not want to live, thought about suicide. Get out of this extremely depressed situation for herthe daughter helped, as well as a friend - the actor Kazym Abdullayev, who later became her husband.
The family of Kazym Abdullaev and Nina Berberova has two children. The woman has no desire to keep wild animals at home anymore. Now they live only parrots, cats and dogs. In a prominent place in her house are photographs of both lions that were in her life, and a photograph of her son in the arms of King I. The woman does not hold evil against the second King, as she understands that it was a predator. But she still has not removed the guilt from herself for the death of her son.
In Russia, it is not forbidden to keep predatory animals at home. But for this you need to purchase a license for a private zoo. This involves a lot of fuss and a lot of work. But, probably, this is for the best, because lions and panthers freely roaming the street pose a great danger to ordinary residents. This kind of exotic can cost dearly not only to others, but also to those who tamed the animal. The tragedy of the Berberov family, which has flown around the world, clearly proves that there is no place for a wild animal in a civilized society.
