When we were recently in Israel to bring lion pet trade survivors BenTzur and Ori to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, Tim and I took time out to visit some of the survivors of the notorious laboratory monkey dealer Mazor Farm, which closed in 2015, who are now safe at the Israeli Primate Sanctuary Foundation.

It brought back to us our long history with the dealer; we paid Mazor a visit many years ago, and in 2010, we negotiated with a Swedish laboratory for the release of three monkeys (Betty, Boo, and Baloo), which had been supplied by Mazor Farm. Our undercover investigations on Mauritius exposed the brutal factory farms sending monkeys to Mazor, in Israel and we launched campaigns with the airlines about shipping these, and other monkeys, to laboratories around the world.

We found it very emotional, seeing these (now elderly) ladies, who had been snatched from the wild in Mauritius and sent 4,000 miles to be used as breeding machines, repeatedly giving birth only to have their infants ripped from them and sent to international laboratories – until Israel finally ended the export of monkeys to labs.

Like all of these rescued animals, they can never go home, but they are living in groups and their twilight years will be ones of peace and kindness after the Israeli Primate Sanctuary Foundation picked up the pieces, to care for over a thousand monkeys stranded in Israel due to the vivisection industry.

The Mazor Farm survivors sitting in the sunshine and playing in the water sprays in the habitat reminds us that progress can, and is, being made but also there is also still so much to do.

Tuesday 1^st September is International Primate Day, founded by ADI in 2005 to ensure that nobody ever forgets the suffering, the threats and abuses, faced by our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, emotional, intelligent, communicative with a love for their family – traded as pets, children taken away, forced to perform in circuses, zoos and other entertainment, in terror and suffering in laboratories.

Animals of all species, once living safe deep in the world’s wilderness are increasing threatened by human encroachment. Primates all over the world are losing their homes and their lives as more and more habitat is stripped away.

As roads are built deep into the forest for logging, mining, or to search for oil or rare earth minerals, human populations follow, pushing deeper into the forest.  Monkeys are hunted for bushmeat, their babies taken to feed the pet trade, laboratories, circuses and other entertainment.

Forests and wild spaces are vital in the battle against climate change, they are the lungs of the earth, the best way to trap carbon emissions, they impact the whole planetary system. While protecting forests and habitats on the other side of the world may seem distant sometimes, they provide the air we breathe and we can all support the drive towards sustainable energy and supporting planetary systems.

We can all speak out against the denial of facts, against putting our heads in the sand and hoping. Our planet’s weather and water systems are now showing evidence that the pollution pumped into the atmosphere by a huge human population is now changing our weather and the earth’s ability to sustain us all. We can all say “no” as governments strip away the limited environmental protections there are.  The natural world, like many things, is much harder to fix once it is broken, so let’s protect what we have.

From forest to concrete jungle

Primates are highly intelligent, emotional and social earthlings who love their families and suffer terribly in barren conditions and when isolated from their own kind. To feed the desire to have monkey in the house, like toys, trappers will often kill mothers to take the young as they cling to her dying body.

They take them young to force them into dependency on their human captors.  Owners may dress them as human infants. It is not love when somebody forces a baby monkey to be kissed, it is abuse, it is cruelty to a frightened, lonely baby who just wants their own mother.

Even the smallest of monkeys grow into surprisingly strong and fast juveniles and adults, as their genes have developed for a life in the forest, feeding themselves on leaves, fruits, nuts and other natural foods, and living their best life. Because their teeth can hurt, even when they don’t mean to, they are removed or snapped off, with no concern for the pain and suffering this causes.

Nature provides natural barriers. The pandemic highlighted the consequences of bringing together species that would not normally meet in the wild, creating an unexpected viral cocktail and a new disease. Sending animals across the world for commercial trade opens the door to animals that aren’t indigenous to the new country posing a threat to native wildlife, if they escape.

From huge snakes in the Florida Everglades to grey squirrels pushing red squirrels to the brink of extinction in the UK, the exotic pet trade is repeatedly responsible for introduction of species where they should not be. Yet it continues, just to allow someone to selfishly buy a new toy or status symbol, ignoring the risks to the environment should they escape, and the suffering to the animal stolen from their home and their right to live free.

In April, the UK Government finally introduced licences/ licenses to regulate private ownership of primates but has failed to plan a systematic phase out of the industry.  The British climate is unsuitable for primates, they can never be comfortable, there are health and safety issues with contact with humans, and no conservation or welfare benefits for the animals. Why not bring this to an end?

Social media is causing a hugely damaging spike in ‘trophy pets’ like lions, tigers, and many other exotic animals not suited for living with humans, all being used for social media by attention seekers. This problem is likely to get worse and so governments need to act, decisively, and quickly.

You can take action here.

Primates as entertainers

Our Stop Circus Suffering campaign has seen wild animal acts in circuses banned in over 50 countries, but it is still legal in many countries – including the United States.

Primates suffer especially in circuses, where they spend their lives kept in small boxes and are chained by the neck or around the waist, to pose for photos. A life of complete misery for these intelligent, communicative animals who normally live in large family groups, in a varied, interesting environment.

Training is brutal. For example, our undercover investigation of the Korean monkey school showed how macaque monkeys are taught to walk on their hind legs; their hands were tied behind their backs, they repeatedly fell on their faces, unable to protect themselves, or get up to balance themselves. Eventually, they walked upright on command, dressed as humans to entertain the public. What a travesty.

During an investigation by ADI in a UK supplier, a trainer pinned down a mandrill and pushed a prolapsed rectum back into the screaming animal, saying it often happened when making the primates walk on their hind legs.

During ADI’s Operation in Spirit of Freedom to empty Peru’s circuses of animals, we rescued over 40 monkeys. Burned into our memories are some of the most heartbreaking and moving moments, when we reintroduced lonely animals to their own kind, their joy and being with someone who understood them, was unforgettable. Some, like Pepe, had lived his entire life chained, alone, in a circus.

Right now, in the US, a despicable ‘show’ called ‘Banana Derby’ is appearing at fairs around the country. Capuchin monkeys are strapped onto dogs’ backs like jockeys, as the dogs race around makeshift tracks, throwing the terrified monkeys from side to side. Between races the poor monkeys are passed from person to person, who pay to be photographed with them.

Please contact your Congress members and urge their support for the Captive Primate Safety Act, find out more here.

Primates in laboratories – the ultimate betrayal

Monkeys in laboratories face the most terrifying ordeals – strapped down, force fed or injected with drugs, metal probes fixed into their brains, deliberately infected with disease. Intelligent like us, emotional, experiencing fear, anxiety, loneliness, distress. What makes this even more tragic is that due to species differences, the results can never be trusted and those that demand the tests know it.

At the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA), decided they needed to speed up vaccine development, so they cut requirements for animal tests for efficacy (effectiveness) before going to human trials. Decided they could skip them. Yet an estimated million animals die in such tests every year.

Despite the ICMRA ruling, Oxford University tested its vaccine for efficacy in monkeys. The vaccine failed to stop the virus in monkeys, so that was ignored, and human trials expanded. The vaccine was given to millions of people.

We can change this. We have made some progress: We secured a ban on use of chimpanzees and wild caught monkeys across Europe. We secured a commitment to phase out the use of ‘F1’ primates in laboratories (those born of wild parents), like the Mazor monkeys I mentioned earlier. Good news, but….we must be vigilant.

Shockingly, 16 years after the F1 Phaseout was passed, government figures reveal how in 2025, almost half of the monkeys used in UK labs, 859, (47%) were F1 – almost doubling the number in the previous year. Monkey dealers in Asia and Mauritius are continuing to stock their factory farms with wild caught monkeys.

This is why we must NEVER, EVER GIVE UP:

We must continue to monitor the regulators, keep up the pressure in the media and with our elected representatives – tell them to ask why regulators are failing. The UK’s Animals in Science Regulation Policy Unit told ADI last week, “establishments are operating within the strengthened sourcing requirements.” Unfortunately, these have had multiple loopholes and while, it is important that finally, “No wild-caught animals can be added to “self-sustaining colonies” since 1 August 2025”, a female macaque can give birth until she is 20 years old, so the dealers will ensure their babies are ending up in labs for years to come.

Write to your elected representatives and say this is not good enough. They need to do better. Put this on your social media and ask others to do the same.  Contact ADI if you need help with this.

Roadmaps could pave the way to end this

Governments in the UK, US, the EU have all published their ‘roadmaps’ to eliminate animal use in laboratories. These plans set targets for replacing tests, and may offer the best opportunity for decades, to end animal use. And the regulators are taking note of the science – the US Food & Drug Administration roadmap finally acknowledges the failings of animal testing.

In the UK, contact your MP to urge the Government to fulfil its promise to prohibit the use of F1 primates and accelerate reducing the number of animals used in laboratories.

In the US, please contact your Congress members and urge them to back the FDA Roadmap and ensure the FDA Modernization Act is used to drive forward replacing animal tests with new technology.

Hope for the future

To finish on a happy note, enjoy our video about the rescue of spider monkey Maruja – proof that together we are making a difference. Thanks to ADI undercover investigations and campaigns, Peru banned wild animals in circuses. ADI then raided every animal circus, saving over 100 animals including lions, bears and monkeys. Much later, a circus, thinking no one was watching, was spotted with a monkey, dressed as a child.  However, ADI was still watching. Maruja was seized, and returned to the wild.  Enjoy.

This International Primate Day, please support ADI’s efforts to end the suffering of primates through our campaigns and education, support our work to secure legislation, then once the bans are in place – help us get the animals out!

The rescues are important to show industries that when we get bans, we mean it. They are losing their animals.

Then, the responsibility continues (and why not!). Help us get the survivors of cruel industries to the best home we can, and continue to provide for the monkeys, bears, lions, tigers and others, who are so damaged, they can never return to the wild. Let’s do our best for them.

With your support we are making a difference, no matter what obstacles are put before us, the animals we are saving are testament to that.

Donate here: UK £, Euros, Rand | US $, CA $

Although our efforts this past months seem to have been dominated by the journey of lions BenTzur and Ori, seized from the illegal wildlife trade in Israel, and stepping out at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa, there has also been so much happening on our worldwide campaigns agenda.

We have seen some important victories and progress – Brazil banning foie gras; US Congress passing the FDA Modernization Act; badger culling ended in England; Spain abandoning plans for a massive octopus farm; New Zealand ending greyhound racing, and more.

BenTzur and Ori’s story attracted international coverage and symbolized what can be achieved, as ADI engages with public and governments worldwide, for greater animal protection.

Freedom for rescued lions: These young lions seized from the illegal wildlife trade in Israel, were stranded for months due to the war in the region. So, when we learned of a cargo flight out of Tel Aviv, we seized the opportunity, and this month the boys flew home. With limited flights available, it was 50 exhausting hours – flying south to Cairo, then north to Frankfurt, and then after more than ten hours south again, to Johannesburg – 7,500 miles, almost 3,500 more than flying direct!

But it was all worth it, as BenTzur and Ori took their first steps on African soil and began to systematically map out their 2.5-acre Kakato Home Sweet Home Habitat at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. We were so proud of them. It has been remarkable how quickly they have grown in confidence, got to know their carers and enjoy every part of their habitat. They had to transition from a very hot summer in Israel, to a very cold mid-winter in Free State, South Africa. So each evening, we call them back into their heated house for dinner, and then to sleep.  They are very content, they curl up together and then bound out to play in the bright winter sun, each morning.

Watch the journey here.

You can watch the boys playing with a catnip sack here and, if you missed it, see our latest Facebook Live, where we check in with the boys and other ADIWS residents, here.

VICTORY for ducks and geese: Brazil has banned production and sale of foie gras. One of the cruelest foods in the world, foie gras is produced by repeatedly force-feeding ducks and geese through a tube pushed down their throats until their livers become diseased and abnormally enlarged. Brazil now joins a growing number of countries taking action against this cruel industry. Please continue to speak out against foie gras.

In the UK join ADI in speaking up and contact your MP urging them to ban these cruel imports. Find your local MP here.

Stand against the cruel production of foie gras in the US.

VICTORY! Badger killing licenses revoked: Natural England (an advisory group sponsored by the Government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) has confirmed to ADI that they are revoking “the final remaining badger control license in Cumbria”, bringing licensed badger culling in England to an end. Government policy is now “a comprehensive bovine tuberculosis (TB) eradication approach focused on cattle controls, biosecurity, vaccination and wildlife disease surveillance”.

But there are opponents to this humane move, although it is backed by the scientific evidence.  In Wales, Laura Anne Jones, MS, Reform UK, has presented a bill calling on the Senedd to consider implementing badger culling in Wales. Thankfully, Llyr Gruffydd MS, Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability, has confirmed he will await recommendations from the TB Technical Advisory Group before considering any change in policy. This is another concerning proposal from Reform which would undermine animal protection – others include overturning the ban on hunting with hounds and reductions in environmental protection. Urge Reform to change these policies.

Please join us in signing this petition calling on the Senedd to reject any badger cull in Wales.

Over 200 horses have lost their lives on US racetracks this year. Of the 91 racetracks, Belmont Park in New York recorded the third highest number of deaths with 12, Santa Anita Park in California is second with 13 deaths, while three tracks are currently tied for the deadliest of 2026 with 18 death each – Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, Saratoga Harness in New York, and Parx Racing in Pennsylvania. 79 horses dead at just these five tracks since the beginning of the year.

The UK death toll is also rising in the UK.  Six-year-old racehorse Cueros was euthanized/euthanised after suffering a broken leg in a fall during the Grosnez Handicap at Les Landes Racecourse in Jersey.

In the US, contact your local representatives and urge them to support legislation to protect horses.

VICTORY: 150 years of  commercial greyhound racing in New Zealand ended on 1^st August.

Around 1,400 greyhounds now need to be rehomed, while around 150 are being sent to Australia, where some may continue racing.

In the UK, three greyhounds died at the residential kennels attached to Star Pelaw Greyhound Stadium in County Durham during the extreme heat. An investigation is underway. 

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider nonclinical tests, advanced replacement human-relevant methods called New Approach Methodologies, instead of animal tests.  Although not a prohibition of any animal tests, the FDA Modernization Act 3.0 will require the FDA to consider non-animal methods when approving a drug or other product to go on the market. Nevertheless, it is hoped it will remove another obstacle to the elimination of animal tests.  The Act has passed both houses of Congress and now requires the Senate to approve the House version of the bill, before it can go to the President to be signed into law.

Please urge your Senators to support the FDA Modernization Act 3.0 (H.R. 2821) to advance science and technology for faster, more relevant results for humans.

VICTORY:  Nueva Pescanova drops plans for the world’s first commercial octopus farm in Gran Canaria, Spain. Up to one million octopuses a year would have been farmed at the facility for meat. This is a major victory for these intelligent, sentient animals and for everyone who spoke out against the proposal. ADI continues to call for a UK ban on imports from octopus farms and in the US, ADI is backing state and federal measures to prohibit octopus farming.

UK Government fails to phase out F1 monkeys in labs.  16 years ago, after an intense ADI campaign, the use of wild caught monkeys was banned in UK and European labs. There was also a commitment to phase out use of F1 monkeys – monkeys born to a female monkey taken from the wild.  Yet, the latest UK government statistics reveal almost half of the monkeys used, 859 (47%) were F1 – almost double the previous year. The figures indicate that the monkey dealers in Asia and Mauritius have continued to stock their factory farms with wild caught monkeys.

Contact your MP and urge the Government to accelerate reducing the number of animals in experiments and prohibit the use of F1 primates and supply of animals from unlicensed/uncontrolled suppliers.

This week, the Lawrence County Fair is hosting Banana Derby – monkeys strapped onto dogs as ‘jockeys’, as the dogs race around makeshift tracks to entertain crowds. The terrified monkeys are thrown about as the dogs career around the course.

Contact the fair and urge them not to host the Banana Derby anymore and to adopt an animal-free entertainment policy: 📩 lawcofair@gmail.com 📞 724-654-7745

Emotional reunion for lions at ADIWS. Senior lions, Kimba and Tomas were born in a circus in Guatemala but separated when Tomas was sent to a zoo in the capital city. When ADI removed all the circus animals, the zoo sent Tomas to our Temporary Rescue Unit, with 20 minutes’ notice! They now live together at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa and rarely apart. When Kimba had a recent hospital checkup, there was an emotional reunion on his return, watch it here.    

VICTORY: MP Sarah Dyke’s Bill to recategorize reindeer as domestic animals died.  Thank you to everyone who responded to us to oppose this attempt to strip reindeer, used for public events, such as Christmas shows, of the rudimentary protections they have as wild animals, e.g. requiring a local authority licence/license, basic zoo welfare standards such as minimum enclosure sizes. The bill passed the first stage in the House of Commons, but thankfully it lost momentum and ran out of time – your overwhelming opposition is sure to have helped!

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is hosting elephant, camel, pony, and llama rides until October 4. These animals endure long hours in cramped trailers, then are kept in small temporary paddocks, tethered or chained by the legs. Their only exercise is being forced to walk around in small circles carrying people on their backs – something painful and damaging for the spines of elephants, and suffering for others. Violence is commonplace in the training of these performing animals.

The festival has historically worked with notorious elephant ride provider Trunks & Humps, exposed by ADI when we filmed presenter Mike Swain beating, shocking and even dragging elephant Krissy to the ground with a hook, to kick her in the face. 

Contact the festival at entertainment@renaissancefest.com  and politely urge them to end all animal rides and adopt a no animal policy. If you live in the Shakopee, MN area, and want to join the local protests, please contact us at usa@ad-international.org for details.

Baby owls learning to fly. Four baby owls arrived at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary a month ago. They had fallen from their nest on top of a silo at a local farm, and their parents had not returned. This was a new challenge for the ADIWS. The owlets initially moved in with Brenton Bester, ADIWS Wildlife & Education Director, then into an aviary in the Non-Predator Reception Area (NPRA) where they are now learning to fly.

The NPRA was built thanks to supporter donations earlier this year, and now home to many new rescues, including three peacocks, chickens, two springboks, over 60 baby tortoises (being protected from the winter), a duiker deer, and our horses and donkeys when they need to be kept in for veterinary treatment.

Owl houses have been put up around the Sanctuary and a soft release is planned in the near future – the aviary will be opened, and they will be able to return for food if they wish. One owl is not as advanced as the others, and may have been injured in the fall the nest – a veterinarian is monitoring.

You can watch the latest of our Owl Watch videos here, and coming soon will be a short documentary about the owls  

VICTORY: British charter airline, TUI Airlines, updates animal welfare policy to end transport of hunting trophies. TUI joins a growing list of some of the biggest international air cargo companies who have taken a stand against trophy hunting, including Emirates SkyCargo, Qatar Airways Cargo and DHL Express. Each new company adopting this commitment is one less option for hunters wishing to import their sick trophies.

Move to ban horse-drawn carriages across Pennsylvania. Philadelphia has already banned horse-drawn carriages but now, PA House bill 2713 proposes prohibiting horse-drawn carriages in every Pennsylvanian city with a population of 100,000 or more – PA cities, like Pittsburgh and Allentown, would have to cease all horse-drawn carriage operations.  Horses used for carriage rides work in extreme heat, breathe exhaust fumes, and navigate terrifying traffic in modern cities, risking injuries to both horses and people. Consequently, an increasing number of cities around the world are banning them.

If you live in PA, please urge your state representatives to support bill 2713 to prohibit horse-drawn carriages, find them here.

Llyr Gruffydd, Wales Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability, tells ADI that Wales is working to end boiling alive of suffering of lobsters. Responding to ADI, the Minister confirmed that Wales does not consider boiling animals alive to be acceptable, and Welsh officials are working with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to develop guidance on the humane killing of decapod crustaceans. He further advised that The Animal Welfare Committee, an expert group from all three British Governments, is conducting an independent supply chain review on the welfare impacts of the capture, landing and handling of these animals.

New law calls for help for animals after Colombia earthquake.  An earthquake in western Colombia has caused severe damage in Chocó, Valle del Cauca, Caldas, Risaralda, and Quindío, destroying buildings, and causing loss of human and animal lives. Colombia recently enacted Law 2474 of 2025, authored by Senator Esmeralda Hernández, which recognizes/recognises animals as subjects of care and rescue during disasters and emergencies. Consequently, various government institutions are including animals in their protocols. However, the support of the public and animal protection groups is essential to guarantee food and veterinary care for victims rapidly enough in this state of emergency. ADI Colombia is working to help.

You can donate – US $, CA $ | UK £, Euros, Rand – to help the ADI Colombia team to support animal emergency work and rescues.

Glue traps are extremely cruel, indiscriminate, and illegal across the UK, yet openly and cheaply sold on Amazon. Trapped animals suffer severe injuries, starvation and dehydration lasting hours or even days, before death. Wales and Scotland have both passed bans on all uses of glue traps. In England, only licensed professionals are still permitted to use them in exceptional circumstances.

However, on Amazon.co.uk glue traps are cheap, easy to find and most importantly, come with no warning that customers are likely breaking the law and risking large fines, and even prison time, by using them. ADI has written to John Boumphrey, Amazon’s UK & Ireland manager but we need your help to stop these sales. Take action here.

Baby elephant faces a lifetime of captivity:  ZSL Whipsnade Zoo recently announced the birth of a male Asian elephant calf. Celebrated as a conservation success story, the reality is this calf will not be going back to the wild but faces a lifetime of stress, confinement – in the wild the range of an Asian elephant can span 125 square miles in a lifetime – and likely separation from his family through future transfers to other zoos. With developing understanding of the complex social and environmental needs of the species, it is alarming that zoos continue to breed to perpetrate their own captive elephant populations, whilst providing no meaningful contribution to the conservation of elephants in the wild.  Never support attractions that exploit elephants for entertainment. 

Never forget BenTzur & Ori’s journey home with our limited edition fundraising T-shirt and hoodie, all proceeds of which will help care for the lions. Orders will be sent out on 4 September. View and order here.

As you can see from this round-up, our rescues are just one aspect of ADI’s work to permanently change the status of animals in laws around the world. The rescue of BenTzur and Ori featured in media all over the world and has, we hope, opened the eyes of many people to suffering of wild animals as ‘trophy pets’ used for ‘likes’ on social media.

Daily Mail
IOL

As you can see from this round-up, ADI works on many fronts and your support is essential for sustaining the work included here, can you help?

Donate US $, CA $ | Donate UK £, Euros, Rand

After weeks of work on export, import permits and flight arrangements, we finally took off this week with our two (now adolescent) male lions, BenTzur and Ori, from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Like all these victims of the illegal wildlife trade sold as trophy pets, the two boys were taken from their mother early and handed around from person to person as a toy, and for photos. Another pair of victims of the social media trend where people pose with exotic pets for likes, which has led to a huge increase in this cruel, illegal trade.

A growing number of countries have banned this trade, so the cubs were confiscated by Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority in a crackdown on wildlife trafficking, one tied to a tree in a yard, and the other in a basement. They were placed in a local zoo until a permanent home could be found.

As soon as ADI was alerted to BenTzur and Ori’s plight, we offered Nature and Parks Authority, a home at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. It is important to offer support to authorities in this way, to encourage them to take action and seize illegal animals. Weeks of permit applications and processing got underway in South Africa and Israel, and we were feeling encouraged. Then, they became stranded when the war between the US, Israel and Iran closed down all flights.

After months of waiting, we suddenly heard of a cargo flight leaving Tel Aviv and raced to get the lions out. We flew to Israel to escort our precious new residents home to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary.

With very limited numbers of cargo flights leaving Israel, it would be a complicated 50-hour journey to South Africa, with stops in Cairo and Frankfurt. We completed the documentation and made preparations for food and water on their way to a new life.

At 1pm on Sunday 2 August we finished luring the lions into their travel crates and set off to the airport, it was extremely hot in the Israel summer, so moving quickly was important to keep the lions cool. We arrived just after 5pm and BenTzur and Ori were taken to a quiet air-conditioned section of the cargo facility, where we topped up their water and gave them snacks.

We took off at midnight and landed in Cairo at 2am for a 2.5-hour stopover, taking on cargo and for a crew change. Both lions were relaxed, so Tim and I fed them small pieces of meat through a ventilation hole in the crate. We topped up their water trays using a hose pipe attached to a funnel.

We finally took off from Cairo and landed at Frankfurt International Airport, 7.40am on Monday 3 August. Our wait for the next flight would be over 12 hours.

We headed to the Lufthansa Animal Lounge where the lions were placed in their own room. We were able to visit them during the day, ensuring they had plenty of water and giving them snacks, keeping them calm. BenTzur was taking it all in his stride, grabbing his food and playing with the water hose. Ori was subdued. We could tell he was feeling it was time to get out of the crate.

At 10.30pm we took off from Frankfurt, flying through the night and landing in South Africa at 7.30am. The lions were taken into the cargo building to be inspected and for the paperwork checked to allow the lions into the country.

It was now Tuesday 4 August. At 10.05am BenTzur and Ori crossed the airport threshold, entered the land of their ancestors, and became residents of South Africa.

We had a nearly four-hour drive to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. As we passed through the gate, some of the residents roared the arrival of new lion residents.

We unloaded them into their new heated night house. It is winter in South Africa and very cold at night, and they would have had a very hot summer in Israel, so it was important to help them transition. The lions in the next habitats – Rey Ayacucho, Kesari, Coco and Chino, roared the announcement of the new residents.

Ori settled as soon as he saw BenTzur, they rubbed heads and were talkative. It was late, so we gave them a little food and they snuggled down on hay beds after their long, life-changing journey.

By morning, they had slept well, so we let them out into the feeding camp for their first taste of Africa. They reacted to the grass underfoot, but soon explored thoroughly, mapping out the space so they knew where everything was.

They became very confident, and repeatedly looked through the gate into the main enclosure. It was time to inspect their new home!

We let them through into their main enclosure of 2-3 acres, and they systematically walked the space, mapping out where everything was….

They particularly liked the den under the mound we created for Ruben, later used by Muneeb, who has moved to a larger habitat. We found them still there a while later, relaxing and listening to the voices of the other lions, and other ADIWS residents.

Now they are listening and looking at the other lion residents around them, we know, very soon, they will be talking lion and joining the roaring chorus in the morning and evenings.

Thank you to everyone who donated, to give BenTzur and Ori the gift of a new life under African skies, a chance to join the ADIWS super-pride, the opportunity to live with the small local wildlife in their habitat, and as close to freedom as we can get.

Watch the video of their incredible journey and new life.

Adopt BenTzur and Ori on our UK store | US store

Donate to help care for BenTzur and Ori for life: UK £, Euros, Rand | US $, CA $