Rescued lions enjoy new home

2008-06-07 21:06

Bethlehem - The wide-eyed lion cub inched slowly to the edge of the wooden crate. He stared around him, then with a growl from the older cub behind him, he leapt out onto the grass.

They were among nine cubs, along with an adult lion and a tiger, rescued from bleak Romanian zoos and released on Saturday into their new home - a sanctuary in Bethlehem that was once a notorious game lodge where lions were bred to be hunted.

When another of the crates was opened, the cubs disappeared inside but came out again, rolling and playing with two other young lions.

From the third and fourth crates came more frightened cubs who looked suspiciously around them, their bodies crouched low and ready to pounce.

Sticking close to each other, the cubs sniffed the grass, the air and after a while began purring loudly, finally safe from harm.

"It is wonderful to see these animals take their first steps on African soil," said Amir Khalil, director of Lionsrock, which was established by Austrian-based international animal welfare organisation Vier Pfoten (Four Paws).

46 lions

The latest arrivals brings to 46 the number of lions at the 1 100 hectare sanctuary.

In 2006, the organisation bought the game lodge, including 25 lions, one tiger, two leopards and a host of buck. Another 11 lions were rescued in November from a safari park in Austria that had gone bankrupt and the sanctuary was officially opened in February.

"The new habitat is a really perfect place for them to live out their lives with the peace and dignity they deserve," Khalil said.

The cubs that arrived on Saturday, aged from six months to just over a year, were removed from their mothers at the run-down, financially crippled Braila Zoo in Romania.

"They could have died from neglect or sold on to individuals and put into small cages," Fiona Miles, operational director for Vier Pfoten in SA. "Their fate was unknown."

Malnutrition

In Romania, the cubs were kept in small cages with concrete floors and metal bars. They had very little bedding and no grass, and were fed and watered to a minimum with little stimulation.

Jazz, the adult lion will be reunited with his mate Mavi, while Aline, an 11-month-old female tiger, who was found badly injured shortly after birth, will become a companion for Coda, the 2-year-old male tiger already at Lionsrock.

Miles said the animals were suffering from malnutrition and neglect when they were rescued, but their conditions have quickly improved. Aline was kept in a 4-square-metre cage.

"When we were sent pictures of them, we were saddened and shocked," she said, tears welling in her eyes as she watched the cubs playing with each other. "To see them like this - healthy and well - leaves me speechless."

- AP