Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/lions-tigers-evacuated-from-ukraine/
After a stressful journey out of war-torn Ukraine, two lions and tigers are safe at a big cat rescue facility in the Netherlands.
As Russian forces continue to bomb and attack Ukrainian cities, brave rescuers are risking their lives to save animals -including lions and tigers.
UAnimals, an animal welfare organization in Ukraine, is providing pet food and financial assistance as well as helping evacuate animals. They worked with Natalia Popova with Wild Animal Shelter to transport the big cats and several other animals across the border to Poland.
Posted by UAnimals on Friday, March 18, 2022
According to UAnimals, two tigers, six foxes, three raccoons, six cats, two dogs and two male lions safely arrived at the Poznan Zoo.
Posted by UAnimals on Friday, March 18, 2022
The lions and tigers were then transported to the Stichting Leeuw (The Lion Foundation) in the Netherlands who placed the “severely traumatized” animals in quarantine. Robert Kruijff, director of the foundation, told NL Times, “We will do our best, and we will give them all the love and care, good food and medicine and our veterinarian will come and check them. But they need a lot of time to recover.”
The male lions (3.5 years and 1.5 years) are settling in, and one has even started to eat. The 6-month-old male tiger is slowly getting used to his new surroundings, while the 5-year-old tigress is in the worst condition.
“The tigress is the worst of these animals due to malnutrition and disease,” stated the foundation.
They went on to say, “The most important thing is that they now first recover from this intense experience and journey.”
UAnimals shared that all the crates were returned so more animals can be saved. They thanked all who were involved in the rescue and wrote, “Thank you to everyone who put the effort into this nevimovno heavy operation with animal rescue – you are our heroes! Only through unity and co-work we can take big and small, but necessary steps to save lives, because each one of them is important! 💙💛”
Follow Stichting Leeuw on Facebook for more updates on the rescued lions and tigers.
Join us in providing aid to people and pets in Ukraine during this crisis by donating here.
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
