I am heartbroken to announce that our dear Tanya, Tarzan’s lifetime companion and protector, has passed away. Tanya was 15-16 years old and rescued from a circus in Guatemala with her lifelong love, Tarzan.

International Tiger Day is July 29. As it approaches, I have been thinking about the wonderful, brave ex-circus tigers that now roam acres of wild, natural space at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary (ADIWS) in South Africa.

The brothers are back together! When Stripes returned to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary from the hospital last week, his brother Max was clearly pleased to see him again. Stripes had been taken to Old Chapel veterinary clinic after looking unwell. An ultrasound indicated a blockage, so Dr. Peter Caldwell operated on Stripes and removed some material from his stomach. It seems that Stripes had been chewing the conveyor belt material that we use for winter insulation around the sides of the outdoor platforms. Although this has not happened before, insulation for all dens is being replaced with wood and hay bales until we can find a permanent solution. Dr. Caldwell is very happy with Stripes’ progress, and we will continue to monitor him.

The summer holidays are here and for many, that will be a chance to enjoy nature and wildlife at home and abroad. There are plenty of ethical options, supporting wildlife and nature preserves in different countries, helping wildlife rescue and, from next year, we will welcome our first visitors to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. This will educate children about animals and the environment and also help care for our rescued animals – watch for our news!

Sadly, there are also plenty of unethical options to be avoided.

Tomas is back at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary (ADIWS) and is reunited with brother Kimba following emergency surgery. He has a hearty appetite and is roaring loudly.

Tomas was taken to the hospital after showing signs of sickness and discomfort. It turned out part of his large intestine had become twisted and folded, causing a blockage and cutting off blood supply. Dr. Peter Caldwell performed a complex surgery, removing 15cm/6 inches of intestine and re-connecting the blood supply. Tomas remained in the hospital as we anxiously awaited news that the operation had been successful.

Tomas, Kimba and sister Sasha (who lives in the habitat next door) were all born in Circo Navarro in Guatemala. We rescued Kimba and Sasha when ADI began enforcing the country’s ban on animals in circuses. Tomas had already been sent to a zoo, but we got a call at our Temporary Rescue Unit that the zoo wanted to surrender Tomas! We kept the boys close together, near Sasha, and reunited them at ADIWS.

Since then, the boys are rarely seen apart and spend a lot of time close to Sasha. For the time Tomas was in hospital, Kimba was clearly distressed and sought solace sitting by Sasha (who lives next door due to her incapacity with her titanium leg).

Kimba was overjoyed to see Tomas when he returned. We have to be careful when re-uniting animals who have been to the hospital, as the returning animal can feel vulnerable, disorientated and defensive. So, the boys spent the first night in separate rooms in their house, able to make contact through the mesh; they stayed close together all night.

The next day there were plenty of head bumps and cuddling when they met in their feeding camp. With Tomas having had major surgery, they remained in the feeding camp, so Tomas didn’t overexert himself (and to monitor his bowel movements).

Tomas remains a little thin after his illness, but with his enthusiastic appetite, we can build him up again. He has irritable bowel disorder and is being treated for an infection causing a runny nose. He eagerly devours his daily medication in a treat!

These recent events are a reminder of the huge long-term commitment we must make for the health care of these animals. We rescued four of the lions from Circo Navarro in 2018. Dear Nena was tragically riddled with cancer and had to be euthanized in Guatemala; Sasha, too, had cancer, but a lifesaving, groundbreaking operation by Dr. Caldwell saw the cancerous bone removed, and Sasha received a titanium leg implant; Kimba has spinal damage; and Tomas just required this complex intestinal surgery.

The first thing the boys did once they were back in the main 2.5-acre Avi Habitat was to go sit by Sasha in Jacque Habitat, and they do this each day, after dinner.

We are always adapting to meet the needs of the residents in our care, and, for some time, I have wanted to build a section of fence so that Tomas, Kimba, and Sasha can safely enjoy actual contact with each other. We tried previously with just Kimba and Sasha but unfortunately, and almost certainly due to her feeling vulnerable with her leg, Sasha would be too aggressive with Kimba. And yet she loves to be with them.

What we need to do to make them truly happy is to build a strong fence, which is not electrified, and it will need to have a drop gate so we can move them around. Is this something you would like to help with?

Day-to-day care, veterinary treatment, and maintenance and adaptations to habitats are constant ongoing costs for the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. Bequests in Wills are one of the most important ways of securing the long-term future of ADIWS, ensuring we can always meet these challenges.

To help towards Tomas’ recovery and adapting his and Kimba’s habitat to increase contact with dear Sasha: Donate US $, CA $ | Donate UK £, Euros, Rand

After last week’s dramatic airlift of lions Goliath and Coralie from France, it has been another wonderful week of watching them adapt to their home at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, enjoying their trampoline and toys, lounging in the outdoor dens, and basking in the African sunshine.

GREAT NEWS: French circus lions Coralie and Goliath fly to their new life on Tuesday!

Our preparations intensified this week after Qatar Airways Cargo generously offered us free passage on flights to South Africa. Tomorrow, Tim and I fly to Lyon where we will meet ADI veterinarian Dr Peter Caldwell – the three of us will be with the lions throughout the journey.

We will be checking in on Goliath and Coralie at Tonga Terre d’Accueil on Sunday and then on Monday evening at 7.30pm the lions will be sedated and loaded into their travel crates. At 9pm we will set off on a 7-hour drive to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport – as you will know from previous rescues we must be at the airport with the animals 8 hours before the flight. We will be taking off at 4.55pm on Tuesday to fly to Doha arriving around midnight where we will be for four hours. We change aircraft in Doha and depart at 4am on Wednesday morning and finally arrive in Johannesburg at 11.35am.

We expect to get to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary shortly before sunset and so will let the animals into their house where we can assess them before releasing them for their first steps on African soil on Thursday 22 May.

At the Sanctuary, I am delighted to report that this week we moved Sasha Tiger into her new house and habitat, so she is now much closer to her relatives. Sasha’s old habitat (Stephi) is being converted into the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary Quarantine unit. This already has a two-room house, two feeding camps and a 2.5 acre main habitat. We are currently adding a washroom, storage for tools (only used in quarantine), footbaths, drive through disinfectant baths for vehicles and waste disposal. Big cats arriving at ADIWS will initially be held here in future – Goliath and Coralie will be the first.

We also couldn’t help but notice Goliath’s joy as he bounced on his trampoline at Tonga Terre d’Accueil (see pic)! Our team has been creating our own version using heavy duty conveyor belt rubber. We wouldn’t want him to feel he was missing out!

These two intelligent, beautiful, lions have suffered a lifetime of deprivation and abuse, living in a tiny cage, bare floorboards, behind bars, with no regard given to their wellbeing or physical needs. No freedom of movement, no space to roam. Now, thanks in great part to your generous donations, Coralie and Goliath will soon be on their way to freedom. At the Sanctuary, they will enjoy life and as close as possible to what nature intended.

This rescue marks another landmark in ADI’s global Stop Circus Suffering campaign that has seen over 50 countries and seven states in the USA (the most recent is Washington State) ban the use of wild animals in circuses. It began with us going undercover and exposing the suffering, our campaigns and now we are emptying the cages. ADI supporters like you made this possible.

It is the beginning of the end for wild animals in circuses in France. A full ban on wild animal acts comes into force in 2028, and in the meantime the new regulations phasing out these cruel acts enabled Coralie and Goliath to be removed from a circus following an investigation by our friends at Free Life Association. Coralie and Goliath were taken into care at Tonga Terre d’Accueil, a temporary holding centre for confiscated animals near Lyon and that is where their journey to a new life will begin on Monday.

We hope to be doing live updates during the rescue on different platforms:

Facebook
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok

Please join us as the lions go home.

We are so very grateful to everyone who has helped get us this far, and to Qatar Airways Cargo who previously donated the flights for Ruben and the Kuwait 6 lions (and were the airline we used to fly the 17 tigers and lions from Guatemala). Unfortunately, we are still a long way off our fundraising target to cover the costs of caring for Coralie and Goliath for the next ten years, the preparations and building at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary and all of the costs related to the relocation such as ground transport. I hope that you will consider helping as these two lions, who suffered so much, approach the finish line.

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