We reported earlier that Dr Caldwell had identified a serious eye problem for lioness Amazonas – a cataract combined with a collapse of the back of the eye, and she was taken into hospital. The ophthalmologist confirmed Dr Caldwell’s diagnosis and that the eye should be removed. We are all relieved and delighted that the surgery has been a success, our strong lady of the Amazon is recovering well and will be home at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary soon.
Continue readingMake a nest for a big cat
Wednesday is the first day of winter and it can get very cold at night at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, sometimes with ice on the lake. So, preparation has been underway this month, with deliveries of hay, covering the outdoor dens with conveyor belt rubber and then insulating them with bales of hay.
Continue readingADI Wildlife Sanctuary invasion!
During the pandemic, a tall, invasive, non-indigenous plant began to appear across the sanctuary – tagetes minuta, known as Kakiebos, Khaki bush, Mexican marigold and Stinking Roger. It originates from South America but was introduced from Spain. In the second year of the pandemic, it started to sweep through several of our habitats.
Continue readingSenior citizens watching the world go by
It’s National Senior Health & Fitness Day, and that is very much the theme of daily life at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, South Africa. Our oldest residents are Leo and Muñeca, now 19 years old, who endured their first 11 years in small cages in a circus in Peru. Circus life is tough; bare, hard floors, bars, tiny spaces, no room to run, poor nutrition – it takes its toll on their bodies. All our residents receive special health supplements, and Leo’s eye was removed due to problems related to his circus life. Leo also has two meals on feeding days to keep his weight up – whereas other residents have one. He’s hand fed (with tongs), which he seems to enjoy. This ensures he eats all of his food, joint supplements and medication to prevent degeneration of his nervous system. This detailed, boutique-style care ensures these two seniors continue to enjoy their retirement, roaming the 4+ acre Abbey Habitat, back in the land of their forefathers.
Rey and Simba reunited
This morning we witnessed joyous and moving scenes at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary as the two boys rescued from a circus in Ayacucho, Peru nuzzled and played before striding up their Guibord-Sprague Habitat, roaring to let the whole world know the boys are back in town!
Lunar eclipse at the Sanctuary
Up at 5am to enjoy the lunar eclipse to roaring from our rescued lions, and then we watched as the sun rose and the lions got up for the day.
Family life
Rescued by ADI from a circus in Peru, Scarc, mother Kiara1, and aunt Amazonas relax together in the 6-acre Tohir Habitat at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, South Africa. Mahla, Scarc’s sister, is not far away. Lions are the most social of all the cats and prides like this spend hours interacting and in each other’s company every day.
THE FAMILY WILL BE MISSING AMAZONAS, who was taken into hospital for eye surgery.
Amazonas on her way to hospital
Amazonas, beloved aunt of the Cusco pride, is on her way to hospital. There was no need for sedation and she calmly walked into her travel crate. For some time, veterinarian Dr Peter Caldwell has been monitoring her right eye, which has a cataract and the lens has prolapsed to the anterior chamber. For much of the time, the eye has looked normal with occasional flare-ups. It is highly likely the eye will need to be removed. Eye problems begin in the rescued lions as a result of years of malnutrition in the circus. There may also be a genetic component, as the lions with the worst eye problems are likely related. Amazonas’s sister Kiara of Cusco had an eye removed five years ago and Leo had his eye removed last year. Although they are in two separate family groups, the circus owners bred and sold cubs to others and asserted that Leo was father to most of Peru’s circus lions. Kiara of Huarral is definitely Leo’s daughter (as is Africa), and now has a serious cataract in one eye.
Continue readingMax and Stripes on the prowl
Max and Stripes on the prowl at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary – a reminder that cute cubs grow up to be very big. Here’s why you should never support cub petting….
When we first met Max and Stripes, they were in a circus in Guatemala, they were tiny and the circus would drag them away from their mother as they suckled, to be passed from person to person to cuddle and have their photo taken. There was another little cub too, but within weeks, he or she was dead. When ADI began enforcing Guatemala’s ban on animals in circuses we were able to remove nine tigers and two lions from the circus. But the circus blocked the removal of the cubs and four other tigers – still trying to cash in on them. Six months later, we rescued Max, Stripes and the other tigers. They were living in a circus cage in a junkyard.
Continue readingPicture perfect Kesari
Whose heart doesn’t melt when they look into Kesari’s handsome face with such distinctive eyes? Yet there are people who only see a trinket to hang on their wall – that could have been his fate. He fits their criteria: Big mane, beautiful face, huge lion.
When there was no room for Kesari at Pretoria Zoo, thankfully they did not put him up for sale but waited for a safe home, and when Captured In Africa Foundation contacted the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, how could we say “no” to that face!
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