As I walked the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary dogs, Milo and Rollo, at sunrise, I thought about how much we have all achieved together. I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has been supporting our emergency appeal and enabling the Sanctuary to keep moving forward, keep building and preparing for Ruben and several other potential rescues we have been asked to take.

Winter is here in South Africa, and July is the coldest month of the year, but we are prepared with our winter protocols! The lion and tiger dens have been insulated with heavy rubber and bales of hay, and the soft teff hay bedding is piled high inside the dens and the night houses. Some of the night house doors have been closed and blocked with hay bales to stop the icy wind from getting into the house. Older residents like Leo, Tarzan, and Tanya are kept in the feeding camps overnight to ensure they sleep in their houses.

The days start frosty, but then are mainly cool and sunny – sometimes the sun gets quite warm for a while. The nights are very cold. The lions are going to bed earlier and getting up later, yawning and basking in the sunshine. The tigers are similar, but much more active.

We are still waiting for Ruben’s South Africa import permit, but I have good news! This weekend, the CITES wildlife officials are coming to inspect the sanctuary to make a decision about his permit. Normally after this our import process accelerates!

Ruben’s habitat is ready. He has a heated floor in his house to keep him warm at night, so we can move as soon as we have permits and a flight. The extended stay in Armenia has loaded us heavily with extra costs for the rescue. If you can, please give a special donation for Ruben, so that there are no unnecessary delays when we get flight details. Everything extra will go towards his lifetime care.

It’s the right thing to do for us to have reliable power, as well as for the environment – solar power will give the sanctuary energy security. We are currently facing daily power cuts/outages called “load-shedding”. These impact the whole of South Africa.

A huge thank you to everyone who donated to our solar appeal and kept this sanctuary project on track, enabling us to install over $8,000 of solar power cabling connecting the houses, offices, and feed prep areas. If we had been forced to halt the installation, it would have increased overall costs dramatically. Thank you.

The good news is that by next winter, we will be able to overhaul our heating for lion and tiger houses as our family of animals continues to get older.

Accommodation for our resident and environment welfare teams is vital to the future of the sanctuary. After delays due to an excessive rainy season, the site has been leveled and the foundations laid for the prefabricated building to go up in July and August. Our wonderful teams work hard seven days a week, most living on-site, with a long weekend off once a month. The on-site team has been sharing rooms in the old farmhouse which we plan to develop into the Jean Warner Sprague Education Center. They deserve their own space to eat and relax at the end of a long day.

The new Tohir Staff Village will provide individual rooms for our team, each with a shower and toilet. There will be a shared kitchen and laundry, and a common room. The facility will be fully solar powered and recycle and filter grey water – for watering trees, cleaning, and firefighting.

Once our team moves out, we can develop the education center, vital for school visits and campaigns, and we will also work on our volunteer and guest house, Chris Lee Lodge, which will generate much-needed income for the ADIWS. At present, we use both buildings to accommodate our team, as well as the construction teams who must live on-site due to our remote location.

It has lifted our spirits to see Smith looking more like his old self. Smith’s heart condition is serious, and we are in uncharted territory in terms of treatment. Under veterinary instructions, Smith is in our quietest habitat, Sam and Eric, and is now exploring its full six-plus acres. He seems settled and has struck up a friendship with Bumba from Colombia, next door. Smith cannot share his old habitat with Rey as he must be kept calm and quiet but, I am pleased to say, they both seem very settled and can see and hear each other.

We will launch our full-paying volunteer and intern scheme later this year, when most of the building work has been done. The scheme offers our supporters the chance to come and care for the lions and tigers you have helped save. Tasks will include feeding and assisting with medications, cleaning, maintenance, and creating enrichment for the lions and tigers, including making toys like this giraffe made from old cardboard boxes, demolished by Kesari! We can also organize visits to our local wildlife reserves. Email us if you would like to be kept up-to-date with news on the scheme.

Our play station was originally built to help Sasha lioness exercise her leg following an operation to replace cancerous bone with a titanium implant. When she tired of the toy, we gave the other cats a turn. The play station includes hanging toys and a puzzle with ball inside (Jade managed to get it out!) and has now given Sasha Lioness, Sasha Tiger, Kesari, Chino and Coco, the Cuscos (Kiara1, Amazonas, Scarc, Mahla), Rolex, the Spice Girls (Luna, Jade, Sun, and Moon), Kiara2 and Africa huge amounts of fun. It’s been rebuilt several times and will eventually return to Sasha, who will surely be intrigued by all the different scents.

Huge thanks to Annabella Guiette who sponsored the play station and other static toys we will be telling you about. Sponsoring enrichment is a great way of giving the cats an extra treat! Find out how you can bring joy to our circus survivors.

ADI is facing a perfect storm of financial challenges. A huge drop in income last year has been compounded by financial insecurity caused by the war in Ukraine and the rising cost of living. Challenges like Ruben remaining in Armenia for three months longer than anticipated, with a huge cost increase, have added to our problems.

Thanks to the response to our emergency appeal, we are halfway towards the $200,000 target we must raise this month to sustain our current work. But we must raise the rest.

We have vital developments in our campaigns, such as the bullfighting ban in Colombia, fighting a bill in Peru written to protect cockfighting and bullfighting, octopus farming and trophy hunting – which means we must stretch ourselves further on these issues while continuing to fund the care of our circus survivors in their new African home.

So, I must ask for your help again. Please help us in July with a donation to pay for the care of our residents in our very young Sanctuary or consider setting up a monthly donation: Please donate here.