Appeal to bring lions Massaï and Alakay home to Africa
On World Lion Day, could you help transform the lives of two lions who have endured years of captivity?
Today, on World Lion Day, Born Free has launched an urgent new appeal to help bring two lions who have endured years of captive exploitation, back to their ancestral homeland, Africa.
Beautiful 11-year-old lioness Massaï has spent most of her life exploited in the circus industry. Born in captivity, cruelly trained, and then forced to perform unnatural tricks in front of noisy crowds, music blaring, lights flashing, living in a cramped trailer and constantly on the road. Yet somehow, despite all she has been through, she is remarkably calm.
Alakay, who is eight, was born in a zoon in Switzerland – reportedly the fourth generation of lions to be bred there. Sadly, Alakay has never known peace, space or natural surroundings.
We want to transform the lives of Massaï and Alakay by offering them a loving home at Born Free’s Big Cat Sanctuary at Shamwari Private Game Reserve in South Africa. But we need help to get them there.
Massaï (c) Natuurhulpcentrum
Transporting two lions over 8,000 miles (13,000km) across Europe and down through Africa is a complex operation. First, we need to secure permits and finalise paperwork, then prepare special travel crates to take the lions from their halfway house in Belgium, to a new life in South Africa’s sunshine.
On the day, the lions will be gently loaded into their crates, carefully placed in a lorry, and driven to Luxembourg airport. Our precious cargo will then be flown to Johannesburg airport in South Africa, where they can be transported to Shamwari.
Rest assured, Massaï and Alakay’s wellbeing is our priority, and they will be carefully monitored during their journey.
Thanks to the Olsen Animal Trust, Alakay’s lifetime care at Shamwari will be supported – but we urgently need to raise funds to help cover these transport and logistics costs to get both lions to Shamwari, and provide lifetime care for Massaï.
Once they arrive at Shamwari, Massaï and Alakay will be free to enjoy their bush enclosures – with space to run, trees to scratch, bushes to relax under, undergrowth to explore. A world away from their former lives.
Glen Vena, Animal Care Supervisor at the sanctuary, said: “I’ve worked at Born Free’s Big Cat Sanctuary, in South Africa, for 26 years. I oversee the long-term care of rescued lions. Like you, I can’t bear the thought of animals suffering, and it’s heart-breaking to think how much these cats have endured. How I long to give them an enriched life, where they belong – here in Africa.”
Every donation helps – so together, let’s bring these lions home.
Photo credits: Natuurhulpcentrum / Lorie Lowen, Stefano Bigiani, Action Protection Animale