Meet beautiful, shy, lioness Aziza, who has just hitched a ride on an ADI flight to freedom with five other lions from Kuwait.

When Jan and Tim visited Kuwait to begin preparations for the relocation of five young lions rescued from the illegal pet trade to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa, they learned of another lioness, Aziza. As always, we could not leave anyone behind. Of course, she had to come.

Kuwait CITES officials worked hard to quickly produce a new export permit to include 18-month-old Aziza, and this has been submitted to South Africa CITES who are also working to speed through their approval. We know the change caused a delay; both sets of CITES documents had to be done again to include Aziza, but these animals get a once in a lifetime opportunity to come home to Africa to live freely, in family groups. In the hope of success for Aziza, we went ahead and sent six travel crates to Kuwait Zoo anyway, to ensure she had her place on the flight back to Africa. We asked Qatar Airways Cargo for another space for Aziza, and they instantly agreed. We hope to get the South Africa import permit soon. Our thanks to the workers and volunteers at the Zoo, to the wonderful CITES officials in Kuwait and South Africa, and Qatar Airways Cargo for funding the flight for the #Kuwait6.

URGENT: AZIZA NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT. Six young lions arriving at the sanctuary requiring care for perhaps the next 20 years, home in Africa is a very big undertaking! We knew this was Aziza’s chance. CAN YOU CELEBRATE AZIZA GETTING A TICKET TO FLY WITH A DONATION TOWARDS HER LIFETIME CARE?

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