It’s the news that we have all been waiting for – lonely lion Ruben flies from Armenia to Africa on Tuesday, August 22!
It’s been a big challenge securing a flight from Armenia, as we needed an aircraft with large enough cargo doors for Ruben’s travel crate, and none were available. Thankfully, Qatar Airways’ WeQare charity scheme stepped in, scheduling a wide-bodied aircraft on one of their passenger routes, and have donated space on board for Ruben!
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We cannot express how excited we were to receive Ruben’s import permit.
It may be an innocuous looking piece of paper, but it means the world to Ruben. We’re currently arranging his flight, and there are still a good few i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed, but the last legal obstacle is cleared.
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Mighty Rey licking his lips! He was rescued from a circus in Cusco, Peru, as ADI enforced the country’s ban on wild animals in circuses. He crossed the Andes and then the world to come home to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa.
Diana Bell Miller and her Lion Lovers Facebook group committed to saving one of the lions during ADI’s Operation Spirit of Freedom (33 lions were saved), and chose Rey.
Continue readingA family of six donkeys, one male, three females and two foals, that were abandoned when a tourist lodge went into administration, are starting a new life at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary (ADIWS), South Africa. Our friends at the SPCA Bloemfontein asked if we could help and when we said “Yes”, brought them straight to ADIWS to ensure they would not be killed by poachers. They are currently in a four-acre enclosure while we settle them in, but will eventually be able to roam freely around the sanctuary – they will not be allowed to breed. Enjoy their first steps to a new life.
Enjoy this celebration of an incredible life. A chance encounter over 20 years ago between the ADI founders and a young Peruvian musician, Alexis Diaz Limaco, would change the course of his life and the lives of countless animals. The undercover investigations he took part in would lead to campaigns to end circus suffering across South America, circus animal bans in multiple countries and ADI’s huge rescues, saving hundreds of animals. Alexis passed away in April, enjoy this tribute to a colleague and friend and see the animals whose lives he helped transform. A reminder of how each of us can make a huge impact. Thank you Alexis.
To donate towards the Alexis Memorial appeal, for which donations will be doubled, thanks to a generous matching pledge: Donate UK £ | Donate US $
These are sisters Africa and Kiara today in the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, South Africa, looking just like two lionesses should. It seems almost unimaginable that the cage in the second picture was their entire world for years in a circus in Peru. We took the second picture just after we had rescued them following Peru’s circus ban. Thanks to that ban no lions will ever be forced to live in the cage again and Africa and Kiara get to enjoy life in their natural world.
READ ON TO FIND OUT HOW A DONATION FOR THE LIONESSES THIS WEEKEND WILL BE DOUBLED
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Yesterday, the animals lost a true champion with the passing of Alexis Diaz Limaco, ADI’s Latin America General Manager. His impact for animals was immense. The ADI family has lost a great friend and colleague.
It was a chance meeting in London over 20 years ago that led Jan and Tim to recruit a young Peruvian for ADI’s undercover team. He would prove to be the vital part of the jigsaw of skills which saw ADIs work change laws and attitudes across Latin America.
He began investigating circuses in Spain and Portugal, securing harrowing footage which subsequently help drive bans in both countries on wild animals in circuses. Then he returned to South America, and truly found his calling.
ADI had rescued Toto the chimpanzee from a circus in Chile and launched a campaign to ban animal circuses, tantalizingly close to a ban in Chile, but a major investigation of the Latin American circus industry was needed. Alexis headed home.
Alexis assembled a team. Moving from country to country, he and his team faced huge risks. In Bolivia, he fought off a gang of circus thugs with his tripod; on another occasion, his leg was broken by a circus after he was caught filming.
For two years, the team was undercover inside circuses in Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil. The footage was horrific: appalling living conditions and animals were being beaten, kicked, punched, even having rocks hurled at them.
Alexis headed to the countries where we had the most evidence teaming up with local campaigners to launch the findings, getting our materials printed, organizing press conferences. The investigation shocked the continent, causing public outcry.
Alexis had been a human rights activist and now threw himself into lobbying for circus bans. Bolivia became the first South American country to ban animals in circuses and then, a new challenge emerged…
Continue readingWe are counting down to moving lonely Ruben, who has not heard another lion for over five years, from Armenia to his new life at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa. Once in South Africa, his suspected neurological and spinal problems can be assessed using advanced scanning technology.
At ADIWS we have designed a habitat to meet his special needs as he undergoes treatment, including a house with heated floor, a feeding camp with a special low-level platform and a half-acre natural habitat with a special platform with den underneath, where Ruben’s special needs are accommodated with grass slopes or gentle steps leading to the top of his viewing platform.
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Yesterday, two wild tortoises were released at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary to begin a new life that could last many, many years. The tortoises had been illegally taken from the wild and were being offered for sale as pets on the internet, when the SPCA stepped in to save them. The SPCA asked ADIWS to take the animals and release them on our 455 acre sanctuary where we already have wild tortoises roaming. A happy ending for two lucky tortoises.
Continue readingThanks to your support, Ruben is a step closer to a new life at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa. We are counting the days! At the bear sanctuary run by Armenia’s Foundation for the Protection of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC), under the care of Dr Harut Hovhannisyon, Ruben was sedated for his vaccinations, microchip and parasite treatment so that we can apply for his Armenia export permit and South Africa import permit. While having his procedures, they decided to give him a little tidy up, grooming his mane and cutting out some dead hair. All ready and handsome for his new home!
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ADI Wildlife Sanctuary 