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.

Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown and Geri Horner of the Spice Girls in concert at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday, June 16, 2019. (Photo by Andrew Timms/PA Wire)

Mateo Santiago, Field Manager at Tropical Bamboo Nursery and Gardens, photographs rain water collecting in the corpse flower as Garden Manager Melanie Benson steadies a ladder. Santiago crinkled his nose up distastefully when he described its odor, which was at its worse Sunday night. “It smelled like a dead rat”. (Photo by Melanie Bell/Palm Beach Daily News)

Melanie Baier from the village Obergurig wearing a traditional Lusatian sorbian folk dress, paints an Easter egg in traditional Sorbian motives at the annual Easter egg market on March 24, 2012 in Schleife, near Hoyerswerda, Germany. Easter egg painting is a strong part of Sorbian tradition and visual elements within the painting are meant to ward off evil. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

A mural depicting NHS nurse Melanie Senior, based on a photograph by Johannah Churchill, which The National Portrait Gallery commissioned artist Peter Barber to create in Manchester's Northern Quarter, on October 19, 2020 in Manchester, England. Greater Manchester's leaders including Mayor Andy Burnham will want better financial arrangements for workers affected before they agree for the region to be moved into a Tier 3 Covid-19 lockdown. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Sorana Cirstea of Romania hits the ball against Jie Zheng if China during the Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 22, 2011 in Key Biscayne, Florida.

A shorn alpaca walks in a grass field at Alpaca-Land farm in Unken in the Austrian province of Salzburg, Sunday July, 6, 2014. The annual shearing makes the animals more comfortable for the summer months. (Photo by Kerstin Joensson/AP Photo)

A store mannequin with a protective mask stands before a clothes store as they open for the first time since March during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on April 22, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. Small to midsized-shops are opening across Germany this week as state authorities follow a recommendation by the federal government to ease restrictions imposed in March meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Some schools are also planning to reopen soon, as are museums and hair salons in coming weeks. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)