Rebuilding the lives of lions & tigers
Urgent appeal
The ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa is home to lions and tigers rescued from suffering and abuse around the world. They are the circus survivors, and need special care and attention for the rest of their lives, so it is essential to have the right facilities.
Our rescued animals love their large natural habitats with several acres to explore and play. However, our lion and tiger houses provide more than a warm place to sleep. They enable us to hospitalise, monitor and treat sick animals, or to simply separate animals at feeding time. Our seniors also have heated floors – arthritis can be a serious problem for animals who lived a lifetime on urine-soaked boards in tiny cages, with very little exercise.
The lion and tiger house rooms are connected with drop gates; there are chute feeders for safe feeding, water troughs, and access doors for cleaning.
Separate rooms are essential when we introduce these powerful animals to a potential companion, which is done with extreme care. The individuals can meet each other in a protected contact situation, where they can communicate, rub together, eat and sleep alongside each other, while occupying separate rooms with mesh sections. We can also swap them into each other’s rooms to share scent. We monitor to see whether they would like to be friends.
Building a brick house costs $8,000, and fully fitting out the internal rooms costs a further $3,000.
Can you help with these essential facilities for a lifetime of care for a rescued lion or tiger?