Qualla: Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary

Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary: Introduction

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian0918, CC BY-SA 2.5. Craig Busch called his creation Zion, a word that implies paradise. What he built on Gray Road in Kamo, a quiet suburb of Whangarei in New Zealand's Northland, was something more complicated: a private zoo housing lions, tigers, and leopards that became the set for a reality television show, the subject of government investigations, and the site of a zookeeper's death. Over twenty-three years and three name changes, the facility passed through receivership, liquidation, regulatory shutdowns, and criminal charges against successive operators. By November 2025, only seven elderly lions remained. Their owner announced they would be euthanised. The sanctuary that began as one man's vision of a big-cat paradise ended as something closer to a cautionary tale about what happens when ambition outpaces the capacity to care for dangerous animals.

Read more: Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary on Qualla

Image: Brian0918 | CC BY-SA 2.5

Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary: The Lion Man's Kingdom

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Zoohistorian, CC BY-SA 3.0. Busch established Zion Wildlife Gardens in 2002, having previously operated a smaller facility in Kerikeri. He was charismatic enough to attract a television crew: the series The Lion Man aired internationally, drawing visitors to Kamo who wanted to see the man who walked among b...

Read more: Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary on Qualla

Image: Zoohistorian | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary: A Death on the Grounds

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian0918, CC BY-SA 2.5. On 27 May 2009, senior zookeeper Dalu Mncube was cleaning an enclosure when Abu, a 260-kilogram white tiger, attacked him. Mncube, a South African national who colleagues described as devoted to the animals, was killed. The tiger was shot so rescuers could reach his body. Earlier...

Read more: Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary on Qualla

Image: Brian0918 | CC BY-SA 2.5

Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary: Revolving Doors

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian0918, CC BY-SA 2.5. The Kingdom of Zion period brought its own turbulence. Co-director Ian Stevenson, a chartered accountant from Tauranga, was censured by the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2012 for mishandling client funds, then struck off entirely in 2013. When the Ministry of ...

Read more: Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary on Qualla

Image: Brian0918 | CC BY-SA 2.5

Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary: The Last Lions

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian0918, CC BY-SA 2.5. By late 2025, the roster of animals that had once included tigers, cheetahs, leopards, servals, and baboons had dwindled to seven lions, all between 18 and 21 years old. Lions in captivity can live into their early twenties, but age was taking its toll. On 3 November 2025, Bolton...

Read more: Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary on Qualla

Image: Brian0918 | CC BY-SA 2.5