Kiara and her son Scarc, then and now. It’s been ten years since ADI reunited Kiara with her cubs and Scarc has grown into a big and impressive lion, but he’s still close to his mum.

This tender moment shared between Scarc and aunt Amazonas at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary will melt your heart. The two have an incredible bond spend a lot of time together. Scarc was just a cub when we rescued him and his family from a circus in Peru, and has become the protector of his sister, mother, and aunt Amazonas.

No one will forget the heart-rending scenes when the circus in Peru tore Kiara’s cubs from her, how she stared into the distance looking for them for days and the joy when ADI reunited the family. That was almost nine years ago. The family is as close as ever, cubs Mahla and Scarc have grown big and powerful and now it’s them that watch over Mom. This little sequence was taken a few days ago at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, South Africa with Mahla and Scarc either side of their proud mother, enjoying the African sunshine. If you are wondering where Aunt Amazonas is, she’s directly below them under the platform sleeping in the shade. Lions are social animals. Lions need each other.