Sweet lion Ruben has been alone for five years, in a private zoo which has closed. The other animals were relocated, but there was no room for him. At ten years old, he lost his whole family. He is close to an area in Armenia where there is an ongoing conflict, so before we can rescue him, we need to get him to a temporary place of safety.

Our friends in Armenia have offered him a quarantine unit in a wildlife sanctuary, where we can complete his vaccinations and health tests, and export and import permits to South Africa. This will be stage one of our rescue and we are deliberately not giving out any further details.

We are already applying to South Africa for a permit to bring Ruben home to a place where everyone will know his name (both lion residents and human caregivers), and he will hear the voices of other lions and know he is safe, forever. He will be king of his own piece of land. He will share his land with the small native wildlife who’ve joined us since we started the sanctuary, and we would imagine he will very quickly join in the morning and evening sanctuary-wide conversations roared across from one group to another.
 
Today is GivingTuesday, the world’s biggest day of generosity – can you adopt dear Ruben into your heart and help him today? Your gift can be the gift of life. The kind of life he will never have known before – the freedom to choose where he wants to be, what he wants to do.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, our wonderful band of lion rescuers around the world, we have already received over $10,000 and immediately sent money to our partners to cover the cost of bringing Ruben to a place of safety where we can care for him until his travel papers are in place (veterinary and papers can take up to 6 months). Once we have him secure in our care, we are safe until the flight.

Donate to help Ruben here.
 
If you donate through Facebook and select to set up a monthly donation, Facebook will match your second month’s donation (up to $100)!

Other ways you can help:

• Host your own GivingTuesday Facebook or Instagram fundraiser! Start on Facebook here.
• For Instagram, go to your profile, click the “+” icon, create “Fundraiser”, select animal_defenders_international. You can add this to your posts or stories.
• Share our GivingTuesday social media posts and help us reach our goal for Ruben.
• Top fundraisers get a 2023 ADI Animal Rescue Calendar, ADI Rescuer t-shirt and Lion Ark DVD.

Thank you to our wonderful lion rescuers who are raising funds, donating, and making today Ruben’s freedom day. Donate here.