The lions, all rescued from illegal circuses in Peru and Colombia, were part of the biggest exodus Animal Defenders International (ADI) has ever organized.
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The Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary is on private land and already houses six other rescued lions and two tigers. As ADI reported, numerous rescued lions were found in bad shape with nearly all of them having been mutilated to remove their claws and many with smashed and broken teeth, an intentional move by the circus to prevent these lions from being able to survive in the wild.
Numerous lions have never had direct contact with other lions, always having a fence or a cage separating them.
Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary workers offload a cage carrying a former circus lion in Vaalwater, South Africa, May 1, 2016. Due to their poor physical states, the lions can not hunt and will be supplied with food and water for the rest of their lives.
But more importantly, the passage to South Africa, dubbed Operation Spirit of Freedom, represents a new beginning for lions who had been languishing in circus cages for years, their lives seemingly forfeit to profit.
Emoya was opened in 2012, when Savannah Heuser was 16. “Yesterday, they were in the African bush”, Jan Creamer, president of ADI, said in a statement.
“All of their lives they haven’t had enough food, so they have long-term malnutrition problems”.
One of the lions rescued from circuses in South America enjoys his new home in Africa.
Nine of the lions traveled four days in crates from Colombia where they were joined by another 24 in Lima, Peru. Numerous lions were never allowed to have direct physical contact with other lions and have never been together without a fence or a cage separating them.
You can help Emoya give these these lions the care they deserve for the rest of their lives by making a donation here.
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As they adjust to their new home, the lions will first live in bonding camps where other lions will be introduced. At dawn on Sunday, the freed lions were released into large, natural enclosures in the big cat sanctuary, right in the heart of the African bush.They will remain in quarantine for some time for veterinary purposes.
