Dean Schneider's moment of terror "They tried to steal my baby from my wife's arms"
In a look back, Swiss lion whisperer Dean Schneider talks about the highs and lows of the past year. The biggest highlight: the birth of his daughter. Which he was worried about just a little later.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- In a video looking back on the past year, Dean Schneider recalls his biggest moment of shock: strangers tried to kidnap his baby.
- "Nothing else scared me like that," the lion whisperer recalls in the YouTube video.
- Dean Schneider and his wife Eli became parents to a baby girl in August 2024.
The best moment in 2024 for Dean Schneider (32) was when his daughter Nayla was born. Unfortunately, he missed the momentous occasion as the baby was four weeks early, he was still in South Africa and his wife Eli was in Switzerland.
He joined in from the plane on his cell phone. "I felt miserable, I couldn't have felt worse," recalls the Swiss lion influencer in a review of the year on YouTube. He was very sad that he couldn't physically be there and hold his wife's hand.
In the video, the Swiss expatriate, who gives wild animals in need a new home on his "Hakuna Mipaka" ranch in South Africa, talks about the highs and lows of the past year.
The "scariest moment" also revolves around his daughter. Because, as Schneider reports, strangers almost kidnapped his little girl.
Dean Schneider: "Human trafficking is not a rare thing in South Africa"
"Nothing else scared me like that," recalls the lion influencer, who has eleven million followers on Instagram.
But let's start at the beginning: his wife Eli was shopping in a shopping center with their daughter. When she sat down on a bench to give Nayla milk, two women squatted down next to her. Eli immediately felt funny. After saying how cute Nalya was, the two women suddenly wanted to take the baby away from her mother.
Schneider: "They tried to steal our baby from my wife's arms." Eli got up and threatened to call the police, then called her husband, who arrived at the scene just a short time later.
When the surveillance video was viewed, another person - a man wearing a face mask - could be seen standing behind Eli. "It was pretty clear what they were up to," says the Swiss lion whisperer. Human trafficking is not uncommon in Africa.
"We are so happy that we are still parents to our little girl and have not lost her," Schneider adds thoughtfully. He was unable to sleep for nights after the incident. And every time he looked at Nayla, he became pensive and thought: "If they had succeeded, my baby would be gone now."
Theft at Dean Schneider's ranch
Last year, Schneider's fans had to make do with less content than usual. There was a lot going on.
In addition to the birth of his daughter and the attempted kidnapping, his team also discovered that there had been theft on the farm. Schneider's wildlife reserve also lost the male cheetah Madiba and the construction of the enclosure for the monkeys took a lot of time.
In future, he will focus more on YouTube, but Instagram will also continue to be filled. Schneider promises in the video: "I know I haven't been able to share as much as I wanted to this year, but that will change. I have a new content plan for 2025."
