A Swiss financier who quit his job to look after a pride of lions in South Africa has shared terrifying images showing him getting up close and personal with the ferocious animals.

Unnerving footage shows Dean Schneider standing calmly to the greet three big cats who come bounding out of long grass and knock him to the ground.

The 27-show had been very successful in conventional business life but decided he wanted to follow his passion of wildlife advocacy.

Swiss financier Dean Schneider, 27, quit his job to look after a pride of lions and other wildlife at his Hakuna Mipaka Oasis reserve in South Africa’s wilderness
Today, he lives on a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa – which he runs – and regularly shares remarkable pictures and video of him frolicking with supposedly dangerous wild animals via Instagram.

‘I wouldn’t call it playing with lions,’ says Dean. ‘Because it’s more living with lions, and being part of their pride.

‘And yes, one part of it is, of course, playing – the same as we humans also like to play with one another. But there are a lot of other serious situations that I’m also part of and this is why I actually don’t like to promote what I’m doing as just playing with lions.

Unnerving footage shows Dean standing calmly to the greet three big cats who come bounding out of long grass and knock him to the ground

‘I wouldn’t call it playing with lions,’ says Dean. ‘Because it’s more living with lions, and being part of their pride’
‘It’s definitely not a good idea to play with lions!’

Despite the fact he spends much of his days since moving to South Africa frolicking with strong, toothsome beasts, Dean says he’s never scared.

Despite the fact he spends much of his days since moving to South Africa frolicking with strong, toothsome beasts, Dean says he’s never scared. Pictured: With Dexter the lion

‘With lions, I know exactly how they think and how they work. I’m communicating constantly with them when I’m spending time with them. So there was never a situation where I was scared, even when they hurt me’

His reserve, the Hakuna Mipaka Oasis, is a expensive enterprise, with costs including building camps, feeding animals, paying vet bills and a new second fence planned for an enlarged lion enclosure
‘It doesn’t matter if they are in the wild or captivity’

‘You can’t just go to a hyena clan or a lion pride simply with some talking and movements trying to get part of it.

‘You have to grow into it, you have to know them from small on and then you can do things like that. Otherwise this will never work.’

Amazingly, Dean never trained or even practised before getting stuck in with his animals.

Dean says that he would stop short of interacting with really wild animals, who are much more likely to see him as a threat. Pictured: Chuckie the hyena with Dean’s hand in his mouth

‘You have to grow into it, you have to know them from small on and then you can do things like that. Otherwise this will never work’

‘They don’t look at me like a teacher or a boss. There is no chance I could tell Dexter or one of my animals to walk there or to sit down or to do this and that. They will look at me and think like what is this guy talking about’

‘The more you understand them, the more you can communicate with them clearly. I think that’s the secret’

‘Lions break everything down into a simple picture and this makes them often very wise as they think situations’

‘My main mission is to bring animals into people’s hearts to inspire and educate people globally about the animal kingdom.

Despite the challenges, Dean is happy with his life choices and is unlikely to get back into the cut-throat world of finance any time soon