This week we said goodbye to our beloved and inspirational Ruben. 15 years of captivity and malnutrition left his body compromised by spondylitis and degenerative neuropathy; the bones in his spine were disintegrating, damaging his spinal nerve. We kept fighting for Ruben after he recently suffered a seizure and became unable to stand but he passed away, despite all the efforts of Dr Peter Caldwell.

When we first saw Ruben in Armenia January 2023 he was in terrible condition, his coat was matted, he was angry and suspicious, he could barely move without stumbling and falling over. In August 2023, we returned to Armenia to bring him to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary (ADIWS) and saw he had deteriorated. Peter warned at the time that Ruben was “living on borrowed time” due to his multiple health issues. He prescribed medication to help Ruben move around. However, Ruben appeared to want to prove everyone wrong, and launched into his new life at ADIWS with enthusiasm, playing with his catnip toys, learning to roar again and communicate with the lion residents next door.

On his arrival at ADIWS, we wondered if Ruben might just step from his crate and collapse. We felt that gaining this lion’s trust would be a challenge, only for Ruben to step out of his travel crate and surprise us all. He wobbled, stumbled, steadied himself and drove himself on. He kept going until he reached his first toy, then played and played with his catnip punchbag until it exploded all over him. Nobody will ever forget Ruben with his face and mane covered in catnip. We began to believe Ruben could have a good life, despite his disabilities.

After Ruben arrived his entire countenance changed, his face was no longer furrowed and stressed but relaxed and happy. His response to his carers was immediate, coming to take his medications from tongs, responding to the voices he recognized. Even after his recent seizure and the setback to his mobility, he retained an enthusiastic disposition. He was intrigued and engaged with everything around him, looked up eagerly when he heard his carers calling or approaching, and took his food and medication. It was really only on two days that he seemed dispirited. This past Tuesday when he barely lifted his head when Johannes called, we were worried he was in real trouble.

Ruben loved to play with his toys. His catnip bags, boxes and of course, his teddies. They were also part of his physiotherapy and were good for boosting his endorphins. He not only played with watermelons, like the other cats, but actually ate them! He relished his treats.

He lived a new life in those incredible seven months. The African sun on his back, grass beneath his feet, the voices of his own kind all around him. The night he decided he would not sleep in the house but lay outside, watching the sun set and spending the night under the African stars.

Ruben went from six years of loneliness in Armenia, when his family was removed from the private zoo after the owner died, to seeing lioness Easy on his first night in South Africa. Then in his new home, watching Simba, Rey, and Kesari. He heard the roars of other lions again, and by October, he was roaring back.

As Ruben’s movement improved, he went into his larger habitat and eventually, climbed the slope up to the top of the platform and proudly stood looking towards Simba, Rey, Kesari, Chino, and Coco next door – then roared in chorus with his noisy fellow residents.

All of this time he was defying the odds, his spine and neuropathways were degenerating, it was likely the discs in his spine were breaking down and putting pressure on his spinal nerve, causing the poor balance and inability to control his back legs. The medications helped alleviate some symptoms but could not roll back a lifetime of damage. Ruben kept going and enjoying his life with sheer will and determination. It is not often we meet a lion who has been through so much but has such a lust for life that he defied all odds and lived the life of a lion again for seven remarkable months. Ruben was an inspiration to us all.
His time with us was not enough, but we would do it all again to see him enjoy even just a week of the life he enjoyed in Africa. Farewell, Ruben, you lit up our lives.