Simba, Stella, Elsa and Cesar are today relaxing unsuspectingly in the Dutch sun, but tomorrow they will move from Stichting Leeuw in Anna Pavlovna to The Lions Foundation in South Africa. The animals have been rescued from bad conditions, have been strengthened at the Hoenderdaell animal park and are now going to enjoy the space and the warm weather.
“Cesar and Elsa lived with a private individual, they were kept as pets. Stella was in a resort in Slovakia, she was kept there at a hotel so that people could see something,” says zookeeper Jurjen Woltjer of Stichting Leeuw. “Yes, and Simba had the most past. He came from the market in Baghdad where he was in a cage on the market square. But in terms of character he is just very strong.”
The animals have no idea what tomorrow will look like. “We have already practiced how to get them into the transport crates. And we also follow the normal routine. They just get to eat on time, a bit normal,” says Woltjer. The animals don’t make themselves very happy at all: “A lion lives from day to day. If the sun shines today, they lie down comfortably. And tomorrow? Then they will see what they are doing again.”
Room
The fact that these lions are now given space in the park in South Africa is a great next step in their lives. “They get a site of a few football fields there. We can’t offer them that here.” And their departure also means that there will be space again in Anna Pavlovna. Zookeeper Jurjen Woltjer: “We have the animals from Ukraine. They have been quarantined for 30 days. Certainly the two youngsters are already busy playing. Then it is great that they can come here and lie down in the sun. .”