After spending a life of oppression under the atrocity of circuses 33 lions have been rescued by the Animal Defenders International and they are making their way to their forever home to Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in Vaalwater, Limpopo, South Africa. The lions were sad and depressed at different circuses of Peru and Colombia until they were rescued by ADI. The big cats are now happy and healthy with full of life. They will be moved from Liuma, Peru to Johannsburg.
The Emoya Big cat Sanctuary will provide them acres of natural bush, a separate habitat for each family or pair. The habitats will be rich with watering holes, platforms, trees, vegetation all safely secure behind double electric fencing.
According to ADI:
The forever homes for our groups are expect to cost around $300,000 – there are two large family prides and several pairs and some who will be introduced to see whether they would form a family. Some of our older guys, like Ricardo and Joseph who both have sight problems, will be provided with ‘special needs’ type enclosures with anything that could harm them removed. We’ll probably need to provide at least 10 or 12 separate habitats – but Emoya has all the space that we need. We’ll start with bonding (management) camps and then build out the main enclosures; we expect the complete build to take a few months as we work out the friendships and groups.
The overall cost of moving lions over flight is humongous. A non-stop cargo flight from Lima, Peru to Johannesburg, South Africa will cost $10,000 / £7,000 per lion. The amount is equivalent to the airfare of first class transatlantic flight. So, to meet the huge expenses and at the same time help the lions reach their forever homes, ADI is calling for donation. The donation details is given below:
Donation Amount:
$33 / £33 – $1 / £1 sponsorship for each lion
$100 / £70 – The People’s Lion Ticket – join with 99 other people to give a lion his airfare home!
$1,000 / £700 – Member of the Pride – with nine others, you’ll put a lion on the flight
$5,000 / £3,500 – Feline Friend – funding half airfare home for a lion
$10,000 / £7,000 – ‘Mane’ Sponsor – funding full airfare home for a lion
To donate go to ADI’s website https://lionsbacktoafrica.org/
Check out some of the lions. Aren’t they adorable?
