South African woman Miekie van Tonder shares her bed with a Lion!cuddles her BIg Cat friend every night!

A South African woman, has  raised a cub like her own baby after it became separated from her mother.

Miekie van Tonder raised Elsa raised by hand in her home and even let her sleep in her bed so she could monitor her through the night.

As she grew older, Elsa moved to an enclosure which she shared with two, slightly bigger, male lion cubs.

But at eight months old, she had never interacted with lions before and wasn't used to their rough play but joined in and injured her neck.
She underwent a two hour operation which appeared to fix the problem but later started having problems with her balance.

Her condition meant she had to go to a conventional hospital in Roodepoort, near Johannesburg, for an MRI scan before undergoing further surgery to fix the problem.
Such was Ms van Tonder's dedication, her surrogate mother dressed up in a lion suit and collected money at the traffic lights of her home city Bloemfontein to fund the treatment.
Their bond remains a tight one with Ms van Tonder insisting she has nothing to fear by cuddling up to the giant cat at night.