Back to Habitat, 33 Singles Circus Flown to South Africa

Johannesburg - A total of 33 circus lions, including blind lions and lions who lost one eye were returned to their native habitat in South Africa. This shipments were recorded as the largest animal shipments ever made by plane.

"These lions have been in a bad situation and now they are being sent back to their paradise, this is the world with nature reserved for these animals," said Jan Creamer, president of Animal Defenders International (ADI). / 2016).

"This is a perfect ending for ADI operations that eliminate the suffering of circuses in other countries," he added.

ADI said, it saved 24 lions in a surprise inspection of a number of circuses in Peru. "The lions live in bad conditions in the cage behind the truck," said Creamer.

"The other nine were voluntarily handed over by a circus in Colombia.Almost all the rescued lions have been mutilated to remove claws, one loses one eye, one is almost blind, and many whose teeth are destroyed and damaged will not survive in the wild, "he explained.

The lions were flown by cargo plane to the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary nature reserve in Johannesburg, South Africa. Veterinarian who served for ADI, Eva Chomba, said the flight from Peru to Johannesburg takes 16 hours with transit in Brazil, to refuel.

"We will take care of these animals along the way, three of us will be on the plane ... to take care of the animals' needs, to give them chicken and water because the journey is so long and they need attention," he said. Chomba.

"This is the largest animal cage ever in the world," he added, before boarding the plane to accompany the lions.

Separately, the founder of Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary, Savannah Heuser welcomes the repatriation of these circus lions. "These lions return to where they are supposed to be, this is their birthplace, the African sun, the African night sky, the bushes and the sounds of nature, the clouds, the African summer storms, the great nature reserve with natural settings where they can remember who they really are , "explained Heuser.