5 Ukrainian lion cubs rescued from a contact zoo near The Sea of Azov.

Mission Accomplished… Lion Rescue #2

With the generous help of Mazda Foundation Southern Africa, Jacaranda FM and many private donors, we successfully rescued and relocated the 5 lion cubs – Uma, Sandra, Carmen, Maya & Lion-EL from Ukraine to a sanctuary in South Africa.
The 5 cubs, Carmen, Maya, Sandra, Uma & Lion-EL were rescued from a private zoo in a resort town on The Sea of Azov. All 5 had been taken from their mother at just days old to be used for interaction with visitors and when they outgrow their use they are then sold to private owners, circus and other private zoo’s. There were no takers for these 5 as traveling circuses are no longer allowed to transport wild animals around the country therefore making the client base/need for lions less. We were called by a concerned activist that they were going to be sold off to hunters to be used in baiting and any other takers. There was no hesitation on our part and we immediately made contact with the owner and went off to see if we could stop these lions having a dreadful future. It was no easy process negotiating with him but when we did convince him, we had to get them moved ASAP as they were now costing him money and tourists were not interested in bigger rougher cubs to play with. We immediately set about building an enclosure so we could care for them before relocating them to South Africa. It took 9 months to raise enough funds, obtain the CITES permits, complete the veterinary, transport and relocation checks to get the green light which enabled us to complete this rescue to their forever home.
On Wednesday, December 11, 2019, the entire Warriors of Wildlife team, volunteers, sponsors and partners met the lions at OR Tambo airport after a marathon 76 hour trip which included an overnight road trip in freezing conditions to Borispol Airport and then on 2 international flights to South Africa. The cubs were loaded onto 5 Mazda BT50’s supplied by Mazda Foundation Southern Africa and the team drove in convoy for 4 hours before finally arriving at their new sanctuary.

For us to continue this work we need your support.
Please share our work and if you can HELP US TO HELP THE ANIMALS please DONATE HERE at www.warriorsofwildlife.org/donations