News

Upcycled enrichment is a win-win

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ReyA is clearly enjoying his hay-filled coffee bag enrichment at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. Our thanks to Highland Coffee Roastery for donating their empty coffee bags so that we can turn them into giant enrichment bags filled with hay and various scents the lions and tigers love. Although they have huge enclosures where they can chase, play, stalk the local wildlife, this kind of enrichment adds extra interest and variety and maintains their relationships with their carers. Remember how much fun they had with their Halloween pumpkins? You can still sponsor a pumpkin today, and part of it will go towards a day’s care for a lion or tiger. Let’s see if we can give them more pumpkins throughout the rest of the year. Sponsor a pumpkin

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Save the Date: GivingTuesday, November 28

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Since the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary was founded in 2018, our efforts have gone into providing state-of-the-art facilities for the animals – from huge habitats fed with spring water, to night houses, food storage, security fencing, and guards. This GivingTuesday, we hope you can help us to care for our staff who care for our rescued residents seven days a week to provide food, medications, love, respect, and protection.

Please show our carers how much you appreciate them by helping us to complete their Staff Village to make living on the Sanctuary easier. This is a gift to the animals, too, because they need our team to be at the top of their game every day.

Those of you who follow our Facebook lives will know our team, but what you may not know is that they have been temporarily camped in an old farmhouse. They deserve a comfortable place to retreat after a long, hard day.

You can also start your own GivingTuesday Facebook fundraiser here.

House swap

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‘Spice Girls’ Jade, Luna, Sun, and Moon are given access to an empty habitat twice a week for enrichment at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, South Africa. The ADIWS Resident Welfare Team is always coming up with new ways to enrich the lives of our rescued lions and tigers, and this is just one example. The sisters like to explore every inch of the empty habitat, especially playful Jade who has great fun bouncing around.

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Bonding with Coco and Chino

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Our ADI Wildlife Sanctuary Resident Welfare Team (RWT) continues to spend time each week with our rescued lions and tigers. Here, Ernest sits with brothers Coco and Chino, rescued from a circus in Peru – their friend Kesari can be seen in the background. Bonding time is part of our work to build trust with our big cat residents. This helps us to better care for them, especially when there are medical issues.

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Good morning from Leo

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The sun is up and elderly Leo greets the day. Officially Leo is 21 years old in January, although many of us suspect he was much older than eleven when ADI rescued him from a circus in Peru. However old he is, he is the father of our pride and the most senior lion at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. These days, Leo is showing his age and like many elderly cats getting thinner, so each day the ADIWS team hand feed him with tongs to ensure he gets all of his food, medications and supplements. He sleeps nesting in hay in his house or one of his platform dens – note the bits of hay in his mane in this picture – and in the mornings potters out into the 3.75 acre (152,460sqft) Abbey Habitat. He’s currently enjoying the warm Spring weather and sunshine and usually settles by or under the trees but is still found occasionally at the far end of the habitat. We’ve added extra water points to the habitat so that he always has water nearby and if we see a big rain storm coming we will bring Leo inside to keep him dry. It’s all a long, long way from that small, bare circus cage he once lived in. Welcome to another day in paradise Leo.

Help Matilda and friends

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Gentle Matilda seized after being found hobbled. She loves strokes and an apple.
Beautiful, little Angora is another victim of neglect.
A mare, her foal and a stallion found hobbled in the street of a local town have been rescued but are in desperate need of a home. The clock is ticking.

Will you help ADIWS provide a home for Matilda the cow, eight goats, two sheep, and a family of three horses?

The ADI Wildlife Sanctuary (ADIWS) is a paradise for rescued lions and tigers and has become a beacon of hope for other animals across our region of South Africa, where there are very limited facilities for animals saved from abuse. Tragically, when animals in distress are confiscated, there is often nowhere for them to go. At ADIWS we have the space to answer some of these calls for help and aid the enforcement of animal protection laws. But with new species arriving, we need to ensure we can cover the fencing, food, care and veterinary costs.

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Ruben the cover star

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Everyone knows that Ruben is a star, but now he’s also the cover star of the ADI 2024 Animal Rescue Calendar and our new greeting cards – the perfect way to spread cheer this holiday season! He was rescued from years of isolation and confinement in a private zoo in Armenia that had shut down, all animals removed except him. For six lonely years, Ruben had not heard another lion, and fell silent. He arrived at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in August with difficulties walking and keeping his balance. The world watched as he wobbled out of his travel crate in his Keith’s Happiness Habitat and immediately played with his giant catnip punchbag. Now Ruben savors every bit of his new life at ADIWS, finding his voice again with his lion neighbors, enjoying catnip showers and all. His catnip-sprinkled mane in this calendar photo sums it up best.

2023 was certainly Ruben’s year…what will 2024 bring for this magnificent old warrior? Order your 2024 calendar today to support Ruben and our other rescued animals. Order US $ | UK £

Order your Ruben cards (packs of ten with envelopes), featuring his story of hope, resilience, and perseverance – the perfect message for the holidays. Order greeting cards US $ | UK £

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Ruben found his voice

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This week Ruben found his voice. On Monday, there was something different about the sound when Simba and Rey were roaring and sure enough, Ruben was joining in with them! We are trying to get footage of him roaring with the other boys, but so far, by the time we get there, he’s stopped. He’s also announcing himself to everyone throughout the day, and we caught the video here – Ruben’s first real roar caught on camera! Turn the volume up, because for everyone who has followed him from his lonely life in Armenia to South Africa, this is a huge landmark. He is throwing himself into his roaring with such gusto, he wobbles but there’s no falling down for this loud, proud lion!

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