Bethlehem – Five lions rescued from an unsafe private lion keeper in Romania arrived at their new home, Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in the Free State, on Wednesday, which was International Lion Day.
The five were part of seven lions rescued in September last year by the global animal welfare organisation Four Paws. They were brought to Felida Big Cat Sanctuary in the Netherlands. The two older lions, Simba and Elza, need specialised care and will stay at Felida.
Four Paws is still fighting for their parents and a 1-year-old cub named Aslan which the owner refuses to give up. Just like Simba before him, Aslan recently appeared in a music video. The organisation fears that the owner will violate previous agreements to end breeding and has urged the Romanian authorities to help prevent wild animals from exploitation.
The lions were found in Picior de Munte in southern Romania where they were being kept in conditions that were dangerous not only for the animals but for humans. There was also a lack of professional and veterinary care.
While the former owner gave up seven of his lions last year, he was not willing to part with three of the lions and forbade the Four Paws team from performing a vasectomy on the adult male lion, although this had been agreed in writing. The team provided temporary birth control to the lioness but once it wears off, uncontrolled and possibly incestuous breeding can resume.
“The fact that these lions keep appearing in music videos is outrageous. This, the uncontrolled breeding and the inappropriate keeping conditions are clear signs the owner should not be allowed to keep lions. It’s a shame that Romania’s animal welfare laws even allow this. The owner keeps refusing to hand over the animals or to at least allow a vasectomy of the male to stop the breeding. We will do everything in our power to prevent any further animals from suffering the cruel fate of inappropriate keeping or commercial exploitation. We urge the former owner to respect the agreement signed with us and prompt the Romanian authorities to help us give these lions a better life,” says Ioana Dungler, director of the wild animals department at Four Paws.
While Four Paws continues to fight for their family members that had to stay behind in Romania, the five younger siblings, 3-year-old Roman, Vincent, Dolf, Ellie and Geena, have arrived safely at Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary after a long journey.
“None of these lions had experienced a species-appropriate life in Romania, where they can live as a group according to their instincts and individual personalities in spacious, natural surroundings. At Lionsrock they can explore, roam around and play but will also have place to hide, if they want. It is bittersweet that these five lions get this opportunity, but that their little brother is still stuck being kept as a pet and abused for video clips,” says Barbara van Genne, who is responsible for wild animal rescue and advocacy at Four Paws.
Romania banned the keeping of big cats and other wild animal species in circuses in 2017, and private keeping is only allowed with a special permit. In the EU and beyond, thousands of lions and other wild animals are exploited and abused every year for the commercial wildlife trade.
“Despite positive steps in and outside of Europe, including Romania, towards better wild animal protection laws, many lions and other wild animal species are kept and bred privately in inappropriate conditions in circuses, for photo ops or in private yards around the world. They are cruelly abused for their body parts, their skin and bones, as pets and for entertaining humans,” said Dungler.
The Independent on Saturday