Oleksander Pylyshenko is either very fearless,very foolish... or both. The 40-year-old zookeeper from the Ukraine recently spent five weeks in a cage with Katya, a 200-kilo African lioness. Why? Well for a start, he wanted to raise awareness of the treatment of animals in captivity. Secondly, he hoped to break the Guinness World Record for time spent living in a cage with a lion. And thirdly? "I wanted to show my children what kind of man I am," said Oleksander.  For 36 days, Oleksander and Katya shared the cage together. They ate hunks of meat thrown into the cage by Oleksander's wife, and slept side by side on a bed of hay. Oleksander did have a few more creature comforts than his feline flatmate - he built himself a shower and toilet inside the enclosure. But he didn't use any soap as the sharp scent is upsetting to lions. And as if living with the king of the jungle wasn't dangerous enough, Katya was also pregnant at the time. She gave birth during Oleksander's stay. Wild animals are very protective of their young but the zookeeper said Katya trusted him completely. Oleksander' wife, Olena, was also very trusting. "when he first told me about the plan I was very scared. But I decided to support my husband." Once the five weeks was up, Oleksander stepped out of the cage and declared the experiment a success. He told a Russian news agency, "Katya taught me a lot about honesty and kindness." Also, a representative from Guinness World Records confirmed that Oleksander ahd beaten the previous record by three weeks. But the parting was also bittersweet. "Katya was very sad to see me go," Oleksander noted. Oleksander's wife, on the other hand, was very happy to have her husband back. [(<<>> 20121 "Into the Lion's Den" )] Oleksander spent   _   more weeks than the previous record. [ ]
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