In the 1970′s, actress and model Tippi Hedren (mother of actress Melanie Griffith) created the Shambala Preserve after producing the film Roar. The preserve rescued exotic big cats living in captivity that had been abused or were in need of help, one of which the family created a close bond with. Neil the lion lived with the family in their home, and played an active role in the day to day activities of the preserve.

Male orangutan Percy is reflected in the Sekonyer River as he reaches over to try and touch a wooden klotok boat carrying crew and tourists, in Tanjung Puting National Park, in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), Indonesia, September 4, 2013. Percy is a son, born and living in the wild, of a female orangutan named Princess, a freed former captive orangutan that anthropologist Dr Birute Galdikas rescued, rehabilitated and returned to the wild. (Photo by Barbara Walton/EPA)

Rescue workers try to pull out a piece of an exploded Grad missile outside an apartment building in Vostochniy district of Mariupol, Eastern Ukraine, Sunday, January 25, 2015. Indiscriminate rocket fire slammed into a market, schools, homes and shops Saturday in Ukraine's southeastern city of Mariupol, killing at least 30 people, authorities said. The Ukrainian president called the blitz a terrorist attack and NATO and the U.S. demanded that Russia stop supporting the rebels. (Photo by Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo)

A pile of destroyed cars of teachers sits outside Briarwood elementary school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma May 22, 2013. Rescue workers with sniffer dogs picked through the ruins on Wednesday to ensure no survivors remained buried after a deadly tornado left thousands homeless and trying to salvage what was left of their belongings. Curvature of horizon in the photo is due to an ultra-wide angle lens. (Photo by Rick Wilking/Reuters)

American actress Heather Rae Young feeds an alpaca a carrot stick from her mouth during her bridal shower hosted by PETA at Kindred Spirits Care Farm on September 2, 2021. On Thursday morning, PETA and rescued animals from Kindred Spirits Care Farm will host a bridal shower for Heather Rae Young in honor of the longtime animal rights activist and Selling Sunset star’s upcoming nuptials to Tarek El Moussa. (Photo by Snorlax/The Mega Agency)

In this Wednesday, January 27, 2016 photo, Jung Myoung Sook, 61, holds her puppies she rescued at a shelter in Asan, South Korea. In the country, where dogs are considered a traditional delicacy and have only recently become popular as pets, Jung's love for her canine friends is viewed by some as odd. But others see her as a champion of animal rights. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

South Korean rescue members wearing chemical protective suits walk past a monster character (R) during an anti-terror drill as part of a disaster management exercise at the COEX shopping and exhibition center in Seoul on May 20, 2016. South Korea is holding its 2016 Safe Korea anti-disaster exercise this week against terrorist threats and natural disasters. (Photo by Jung Yeon-Je/AFP Photo)