Interview Highlights: Albert Nydig

This reporter recently had the pleasure of interviewing Albert Nydig, director of the New Harmony Lion Sanctuary of 18523 20A Road. What follows are highlights of that interview:

20A Today: How did the lion sanctuary come to be?
Albert Nydig: We are fortunate to have a local recluse, Mr. Derfla Ybyn, as our benefactor. He is a generous man that just wanted to give back to a community that has been very good to him.

20A: But why a lion sanctuary?
AN: It's the result of a rare opportunity of being in the right place at the right time. One day last December Mr. Ybyn was marching out to berate his two gardeners, Jose and Merle, when he overhead them talking about some lions in Mexico that were going to be destroyed. It turned out that Jose's family in Mexico had been hired to destroy the lions because the Mexico City Zoo did not want them anymore. Jose told Mr. Ybyn that the lions were still alive and he could have them cheap. Mr. Ybyn, animal lover that he is, felt that this was a rescue mission that he had to attempt so Jose's family was hired to bring the lions here.
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20A: You obviously are very knowledgeable to take on a job as director of a lion sanctuary. Have you been trained in veterinary medicine?
AN: No, I don't have any such background. Mr. Ybyn decided that I would learn on the job so to speak.
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20A: What do you feed the lions, lots of red meat?
AN: I can't say definitely, but I think it is a myth that lions need meat. I figured a lion is just a really big cat so we've been feeding them Purina Cat Chow. We were surprised how little of it they eat. I think the reason that they do not have much of an appetite is because, as you saw during the tour, they are rather dormant. They must enter some mild state of hibernation during the winter months. I expect them to have a healthy appetite come spring.
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20A: I do not see any fences anywhere at the sanctuary. How do you keep them contained?
AN: This is another one of those situations where truth is stranger than fiction. Mr. Ybyn is the inventor of the Invisible Fence. As you probably know, Invisible Fence was designed to contain dogs. It is a buried cable that runs the perimeter of a piece of property. The dog wears a special collar that shocks him as he gets near the buried cable. Mr. Ybyn designed special collars for the lions and we buried the cable around the sanctuary. As you'll see when you visit the web site, Invisible Fence has more than a 99% success rate.
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20A: You've rescheduled the grand opening?
AN: We thought it best to proceed cautiously to insure that visiting the sanctuary will be a safe and rewarding experience. Therefore, we moved the opening from February 1st to April 1st. And, hopefully the lions will be more active by then.
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The full interview will appear at a later date.