March 2022  
Stichting Leeuw, counterpart of The Lions Foundation, today welcomed 4 traumatized feline predators from Charkov, Ukraine. Because of the war, their keepers couldn’t take care of these animals anymore. Zoo Poznan in Poland organized their rescue to the Polish-Ukraine border, while under bombardment. There, Stichting Leeuw picked the felines up.

This concerns two lions, father and son, aged 3,5 and 1,5 years old, and two tigers, a female of 5 years and a small male of 6 months old. They were transported to Stichting Leeuw in the Netherlands and will be in quarantine for 30 days.

The lions are doing relatively well, they drank water and the oldest already ate some meat. The tiger cub is apprehensive, did not want to leave his transport crate, but seems okay. The caretakers are most concerned about the tigress. She is ill, very weak and extremely scared, especially of men. Hopefully she will survive her ordeal. They all need peace and quiet and a lot of tender loving care, which is guaranteed at Stichting Leeuw.

We at The Lions Foundation wish Stichting Leeuw strength in caring for these Ukrainian war victims. Hopefully we can give some of them a permanent safe haven in South Africa.