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33 rescued lions to be transferred from Peru to South Africa

Xinhua, April 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

A group of 33 lions will be transferred from Peru to South Africa after having been freed from captivity in Peruvian and Colombian circuses, the president of Animal Defenders International (ADI), Jan Creamer, announced on Thursday in a statement.

The activist wrote that the animals were rescued from 24 circuses in Peru and nine in Colombia, during surprise ADI raids which found them to be mistreated and malnourished.

Creamer said that all the lions were scarred from the mistreatment they had received and that they were rescued in order to return them to their natural habitat.

An airlift, considered to be one of the largest ever operations for the transportation of big cats, is being coordinated by Peruvian authorities and will happen on April 29.

Creamer said the 33 felines would be taken by cargo plane to Johannesburg in South Africa, where they will relocated at the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary.

The cost of transporting the lions will be covered by ADI, which Creamer estimates will average out at 10,000 U.S. dollars a lion, or 330,000 U.S. dollars in total. Endit