Simba B & Stella

Born: 2017 and 2016
Simba B comes from a market in Iraq and Stella from a resort in Slovakia.

Simba was born in 2017 and arrived at Stichting Leeuw on 12 July 2019. He ‘lived’ in a far too small a cage on a crowded market in Baghdad.

The Dutch embassy in Iraq made sure that Simba was confiscated and could be temporarily admitted to a zoo. It took a while before Simba ended up with Stichting Leeuw, but by persevering and good contacts in Iraq, Simba came to the Netherlands.

Because Simba was very emaciated, the zoo in Iraq provided him with a lot oof food. Because for years Simba couldn’t move much, his muscles were not well developed, and at the zoo he actually gained too much fat. He was therefore placed on a special diet and lion physiotherapy at Stichting Leeuw to strengthen the muscles (with the help of the hunting simulator). Now he has a good weight, and his muscles are well developed.

Simba has adapted very well and enjoys life in every way.

Stella, together with her sister Luna, was picked up by Stichting Leeuw after an emergency call at a now closed hotel resort in Slovakia.

The hotel was looking for shelter for a large number of lions and tigers, all living in poor conditions next to the hotel. The permit to keep the animals was not renewed and all animals had to leave before the end of 2021. So Stichting Leeuw came to the rescue and sheltered Stella.

Since lions are group animals, we paired Simba and Stella after a short but quiet introduction. They immediately got on extremely well. Simba and Stella moved to The Lions Foundation in April 2022.