“MINE, ALL MINE!” You really wouldn’t want to try and get this watermelon out of Rey’s protective paws once he has started playing with it. Rey was rescued from a circus in Peru and now lives at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary where the rescued lions and tigers enjoy a range of toys for enrichment including melons, pumpkins, catnip boxes and balls. ReyC and his brother Smith have a habitat of over 6 acres of natural African landscape to roam – a very different world to the small bare circus cage we rescued them from. However, our enrichment and toys are still vital for keeping the lions and tigers in our care physically and mentally active. Enrichment is an important addition to giving the animals the space they need to express themselves and we think you can tell what Rey’s prize means to him in these pictures!
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Make their season merry and bright
The rescued lions and tigers at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary are already tearing open Christmas presents – brightly wrapped boxes stuffed with hay and catnip and watermelons – thanks to ADI supporters. Enrichment like this is fun and serves a serious purpose, keeping the animals engaged mentally and physically – something our circus survivors never got to enjoy before their rescue. A huge thank you to Annabella Guiette for kickstarting our holiday appeal with treats for the lions and tigers. Watch out for our video on Christmas of all the fun.
Can you help keep the festivities going?
Continue readingHappy Halloween for rescued lions and tigers
Life used to be just about tricks for these circus survivors and now it’s only TREATS! This week our lions and tigers at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary enjoyed pumpkin treats sponsored by supporters of ADI. As well as giving the animals a lot of fun, treats help satisfy their inquisitive and exploring nature, always looking for the new, so helps them to be physically and mentally active. Have a great Halloween weekend.
Help keep the fun going.
Our big cats want to go trick-or-treating this Halloween
Although our lions and tigers have huge habitats to roam and other important enrichment like catnip and hay boxes, tires and other toys, pumpkins are always an extra special treat. Look at all the fun they had last year! Help them make up for all those years in the circus where they lived in tiny, miserable cages with nothing to interest or engage them.
Can you sponsor a pumpkin for Halloween? Just £1.50 / $2 buys a pumpkin and a whole lot of fun for a lion or tiger. Let’s see if we can raise enough to keep them playing for the rest of the year! Follow our social media posts to see what the lions and tigers get up to.
Continue readingLion and tiger football fun at ADI Wildlife Sanctuary
For some weekend fun, see our new video of lions and tigers at the ADIWS playing with their new footballs!
All animals are curious and enjoy new experiences and exploring their environment. Like us, exercising their intelligence and senses is important to their wellbeing. And the science now confirms what we all knew – non-human animals feel joy, pleasure, pain and fear much as we do. Knowing this, once we rescue our lions, tigers and other animals from circuses, we give them the largest possible natural habitats with space to run and lie in the sun (or soak in the pool if you are a tiger). But we are conscious that although the wildlife in their habitats is very entertaining, they still need new things to interest and engage them – this the reason we give them random objects like cardboard boxes with catnip/hay, pumpkins, melons and towers of hay bales to destroy. We are always looking for new toys to introduce.
Continue readingLioness Sasha’s recovery fun
Catnip boxes, melons, pumpkins, logs, and a swing keep Sasha entertained at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, South Africa (ADIWS) – all of which she enjoys after major surgery on her leg.
There is probably no better character to illustrate our work than indomitable lioness, Sasha. We found her in her circus cage in Guatemala, clearly in pain and limping badly. X-rays at the ADI Temporary Rescue Unit in Guatemala revealed a brutal declawing operation had resulted in a toe being crushed, instead of cut off as the circus owners intended. In our field hospital, the toe was amputated but we discovered disease had spread up her leg – she needed specialist help. After Sasha had settled in at ADIWS, she was taken to Dr Peter Caldwell, who removed 8cm of damaged bone and replaced it with a titanium scaffold and bone cement.
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ADI Wildlife Sanctuary 