Daughter of Byker Grove icon Donna Air rearing two lion cubs in her bedroom

01 October 2023 , 18:15

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Freya with her 'babies' Zemo and Zala

Actress Donna Air’s daughter is hand-rearing two orphan lion cubs – in her bedroom.

Freya Aspinall, the daughter of the Biker Grove star and wildlife park heir Damian Aspinall, lets the animals sleep in bed next to her. The 20-year-old also wakes every two hours to bottle-feed them milk during the night.

During the day she takes the cubs – Zema and Zala – to play on the lawn of Howletts House, the family’s 30-room country house in Kent. Freya, whose dad runs Howletts Wild Animal Park, said: “If anyone says the lions are domesticated, no. “If anything, they lionise me. I become a lion. I speak lion. “Hand-rearing is the last option possible, but I am their mother figure. It's basically like raising two children.”

Freya is raising the animals after their mother died

Both cubs have been playing in the family's mansion near Canterbury, Kent

The cubs, who are four months old, lost their mum to an infection. Freya said: “I am their mother figure. It’s like raising two children.”

Freya is the third generation of her family to live at Howletts Wild Animal Park, which has gorillas, tigers, lions, elephants and giraffes. The Aspinall family has previously hand-reared— inside the house— gorillas, wolves, cheetahs and tigers.

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Donna Air and her daughter Freya

She now works for the Aspinall Foundation, the family’s charity, where she hopes to bring a “fresh” and “young” edge to conservation. Freya is calling for the closure of all zoos in the UK.

Freya splits her time between living in Kent with her dad, 63, and in London with her mum, 44.

Martin Fricker