Tanya takes her medicine as Tarzan waits outside for his princess. At the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, the day begins with medicines for several residents, before breakfast. Coming from a life of suffering, many of our circus survivors require treatment for arthritis and damage caused by in-breeding and poor nutrition as growing cubs. Many also have damaged and broken teeth. Tanya is receiving medicine for suspected toothache prior to a visit to the dentist. She previously had dental surgery in our field hospital in Guatemala soon after her rescue from the circus. Loyal Tarzan follows her to their house each morning and waits patiently outside while ADIWS Animal Care Manager, Hadio, gives Tanya her morning medication in a treat. ADIWS has strict COVID and other disease prevention measures in place, with all food prepared wearing gloves and masks. However, our residents are not so relaxed with people in masks, and so medications are given without masks.
Continue readinglions
Happy Caturday from lion David
Happy Caturday from David at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, South Africa. David was rescued from a circus in Peru and is now in our Operation Lonely Hearts project to introduce this handsome boy to Easy, a lioness rescued from a circus in Colombia. Watch for updates.
To support David’s care so he can continue to thrive:
Operation Lonely Hearts
WE ALWAYS TRAVEL WITH ADI… Well, it may look like an advert for ADI rescue and relocations, but it’s actually Africa and Kiara2 making the most of crate familiarization time at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. We pride ourselves on avoiding using anesthetics to move our rescues. That’s achieved by keeping them calm, trusting, and familiar with their travel crates and never afraid. Africa and Kiara2 were among 33 lions airlifted from Peru and Colombia as ADI emptied circuses there – the biggest airlift of its kind. Now, they are preparing for a much shorter relocation within the Sanctuary, as part of what we are calling “operation lonely hearts”. Our aim to bring together seven lions in three groups – David & Easy; Africa, Kiara2 and Rolex; Bumba and Iron.
Continue readingRoads for lions and tigers
When it rains in South Africa, it pours! Our habitats are green and lush and our natural wells feeding the residents’ habitats are full, but with more rains than usual this year, WE HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM. Our lion and tiger habitats cover over 60 acres and are connected by almost two miles of internal dirt roads, which are becoming increasingly churned up and on certain days, some are impassable.
Roads may not seem as exciting as flights or new habitats for rescued animals, but they are vital for lifelong feeding and daily care. Without these roads, we will be unable to add habitats to rescue more animals and run the risk of being prevented from getting a sick lion or tiger to hospital during heavy rains.
Continue readingHome sweet home for Leo and Muñeca
Big developments at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary as we start bringing together some key groups of animals: Easy with David, sisters Kiara2 and Africa with brother Rolex, and Iron with Bumba. Several of these animals have been sharing territory for some time, but we will be placing all (except Easy and David) in new, neutral territory, to start their new lives together. As part of this, one of our established pairs, Leo and Muñeca (rescued by ADI from a circus in Peru in 2014), have moved next door to Augie Habitat, from their Abbey Habitat. This is a lovely, very similar habitat to Abbey, and should give the pair an interesting change of scenery as they have always enjoyed exploring. It had been a while since Leo and Muñeca were in their travel crates, so we had three days of crate familiarization, to allow them to wander freely in and out of their crates, and have their meals in the crates. Once they were comfortable, we closed the crates and moved them to Augie Habitat where they first got oriented in the feeding camp and house.
Continue readingChino and Coco enjoy the morning sun
Chino and Coco, two lions rescued from a circus in Peru by ADI, enjoying the morning sunshine at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary South Africa. The boys share the 2.5 acre Kornberg Habitat and anyone joining the ADIWS volunteer programme will almost certainly go to sleep and wake up to their roars and open their curtains in the morning to see the boys watching for the arrival of their breakfast. The launch of our sanctuary volunteer scheme was halted by the pandemic but we hope to have it up and running as soon as possible.
Want to know what it takes to rescue animals like Chino and Coco? Check out rescue documentary Lion Ark which is available to stream for the first time on EarthStream.app. As a special promotion, for every subscription made though this link, $30 (normally $20) will go to ADI and directly benefit our rescued animals. Click here to subscribe and tune in.
Two years on: the Guatemala lions and tigers in Africa
Were you watching as the lions and tigers rescued from circuses in Guatemala crossed the globe, stopping in Mexico, Belgium and Qatar on their way to a new life at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa? The flight of the 17 lions and tigers marked the end of a very tough 18-month enforcement operation of Guatemala’s ban on animal circuses. Fast forward two years, here they are now, at ADIWS this week.
Their lives changed under ADI care – from the day we removed them from the circus cages and put them in our Temporary Rescue Unit, they got to run and play on grass for the first time ever, and nobody can forget how the tigers splashed around in their first pools!
Continue readingCaring for circus survivors Simba and ReyA
Simba and Rey are up and roaring again after a visit from Dr Caldwell. The lions and tigers at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary come from some of the worst possible conditions. In-breeding, malnutrition, physical abuse (blows to the head and smashed teeth), lack of exercise and years living confined on bare urine-soaked boards take their toll. Old age can come early for these warriors. Heartbreakingly, last week, years of abuse caught up with dear Bolillo rescued from a circus in Colombia.
Continue readingSunset with the Cusco family
Good night from the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa. Could there be a better way to finish the day? These lions, Amazonas, Mahla, Kiara1 and Scarc, rescued from circus cages in Peru certainly don’t think so! Refreshed with summer rains the Sanctuary is at its most beautiful and our work re-wildling and encouraging the wild flowers to flourish is paying off, flowers, bees, butterflies and other wildlife are everywhere.
After months of travel restrictions due to the pandemic, Jan and Tim returned to the Sanctuary this week and enjoyed this greeting from the family rescued over seven years ago, a reminder of why we built a sanctuary in Africa. We hope to be starting Facebook live from the Sanctuary again soon after a long absence!
This beautiful landscape is why the summer rains are so welcome, but it also brings its challenges. Our natural lion and tiger habitats cover over 70 acres. Access is almost entirely by dirt roads, which become less and less useable with every rain storm. We have lots of lovely life-giving water above and below ground, and it is creating streams across the land. We urgently need to lay gravel on our most important roads, as well as some small bridges, to allow the natural water courses to flow to the lake. Our roads are vital to take food, medicines and other supplies to the animals, for veterinary care and for general safety and security monitoring. Can you help? If you can buy a road (or a bridge) for the animals, you can choose its name! You will be remembered forever. Roads are more exciting than you may think! They are the veins which bring life across the Sanctuary. Why not sponsor a road (or a bridge!), today? It’s $4,000 to sponsor and name an entire internal road.
GivingTuesday goal met!
Tanya is jumping for joy! Thanks to you, we’ve raised enough funds for the main building of the night house for Tarzan and Tanya. This includes the foundation, walls, roof, two drop doors for Tarzan and Tanya to go in and out, and a human door to go in and clean, etc. We also raised enough to cover the plastering and painting inside, the rooms to enable hospitalization, separation for feeding, and protected introductions of animals, and the solar powered heater! That’s $12,209.44/ £9,168.92 of our GivingTuesday goal of $11,845/ £8,574.
These lifelong companions were rescued from a Guatemalan circus, where they were confined to a tiny, desolate cage and deprived of everything natural to them. Since their epic journey from Guatemala, the inseparable pair have been residing in the introduction habitat at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa. With your help, we can move them to a new and bigger habitat with more space than they’ve ever known, which is why we first need to build a night house.
ADI Wildlife Sanctuary 