A pack of nine lions will be flown 14,000 miles to the US after being rescued from… Ukraine in a non-stop ride through three countries.
The big cats were transported in a convoy from Odessa in the south of the war zone to temporary shelter in Romania.
The seven adults and two cubs are flown to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado after being rescued from a “bleak” future by two animal rescue organizations in a complex operation.
Two more lions – one of which was rescued in the back of a van by a British man – are also temporarily detained in Romania and will be transported to a lush reserve in South Africa.
The pride had been living under the threat of Russian bombs and missiles in the city’s Biopark, with the owners worried they could not afford the creatures’ huge amounts of food before being extracted on May 24.
Other exotic animals could now be rescued from the park in the Black Sea harbor. While the lions were in good condition, Odessa has been blocked and repeatedly hit with rocket attacks by Moscow’s troops.
Lionel DeLong, founder and director of Warriors of Wildlife, told Metro.co.uk: ‘We went in to rescue the lions from a zoo that could no longer care for them because they were afraid they would be attacked.
“One of the owner’s biggest concerns was that he couldn’t afford food for the lions because it’s a private zoo. When we were there it was open but no one was visiting which you can understand as they are at war.
‘Nine lions would eat in the region of $2,500 [£2,117] of food per month. Their future would have been bleak and grim, and if we hadn’t taken them with us, we don’t know what would have happened to them. We’ve worked with the owner and he has a few other animals that he could release us, I think we’ll get that call soon.
‘Meanwhile, the lions are really going to a good home.
“They’ve just walked on concrete and some rock and been behind bars. Now they will have open fields and bushes and everything a lion needs for a really good life. ‘
Transporting nine lions over 600 miles in a convoy of four vehicles through wartime Ukraine, Moldova and Romania was a complicated undertaking.
The 13-strong team, which also involved Breaking the Chains, a British animal rescue group, stunned and crated the animals for the journey to the temporary home in Targu Mures, Transylvania.
“Even without war, this would have been quite a mission,” Lionel said.
“We had a team of 13 and they were some of the biggest lions I’ve ever dealt with. One of the males must have weighed between 250 and 270 pounds.
“He was a monster, it took eight to carry him in his crate.
“We had to pass through Moldova because we couldn’t take the route we wanted because a bridge we wanted to use south of Odessa had been bombed several times by the Russians.
“The route took an extra few hours, we drove 26 hours non-stop from the moment we left Odessa to the moment we got the lions to their temporary home in Targu Mures.”
The lions were transported in three trucks, with a “pursuit vehicle” moving forward to clear traffic and on standby for other problems.
They had a blue-lit police escort moving through bombed-out areas, guiding them past huge lines of traffic from Ukraine to Moldova.
A Moldovan security team then escorted the convoy across the country, directing traffic and standing by in case of an accident.
Two lions, Simba and Mia, were already in Romania at a municipal zoo in the northeastern city of Suceava. Simba was in grave danger near the frontline with Russian troops in eastern Ukraine before being rescued by British humanitarian volunteers Tim Locks and Jonathan Weaving.
A guiding principle of Warriors of Wildlife is that animals should never be left in zoos, so the next phase of the mission involves another complex set of logistics to fly the creatures into natural habitats.
The Wild Animal Sanctuary has two parks in Colorado and one in Texas, which together cover more than 10,000 acres.
According to the plan, the entire group of 11 will be flown from Bucharest to Doha, where the pride will go to Colorado and the previously rescued couple to Lionel’s 14,000 square meter reserve in South Africa.
He has returned home while waiting for the paperwork to be completed and is looking forward to the new additions adorning the Simbonga Game Reserve and Sanctuary in the Eastern Cape.
The 57-year-old animal rescuer plans to return to Romania in September for the planned final trip to permanent homes.
“The sanctuary will be like heaven to the lions,” he said.
“When we rescue lions here, you can see them enjoying it from the moment they arrive. They have monster sized enclosures with lush green grass and no bars as it is all electric fencing. From the moment they arrive, they will live the good life.’
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