{"id":25019,"date":"2016-05-01T04:08:13","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T04:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/rescued-circus-lions-from-colombia-and-peru-flown\/"},"modified":"2016-05-01T04:08:10","modified_gmt":"2016-05-01T04:08:10","slug":"rescued-circus-lions-from-colombia-and-peru-flown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rescued-circus-lions-from-colombia-and-peru-flown\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescued circus lions from Colombia and Peru flown to South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

{More than 30 lions rescued from circuses in Colombia and Peru have been flown to South Africa to start a new life in a sanctuary.}<\/p>\n

Reporters said they appeared a little distressed but healthy after their long journey.
\nA circus surrendered some of the lions, while others were seized in raids.<\/p>\n

The US-based group Animal Defenders International (ADI), which was behind the action, says almost all the lions have had teeth or claws removed.<\/p>\n

They would not survive in the wild.<\/p>\n

The lions are being transferred by land to the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary, a 5,000-hectare reserve in northern South Africa. There, the lions will have drinking pools, platforms, toys and veterinary care.<\/p>\n

“This is a hugely important rescue mission because it does make a statement around the world about the way people treat animals,” ADI spokeswoman Jan Creamer said.
\n“These lions have suffered tremendously.”<\/p>\n

The first group of nine lions was collected in Colombia’s capital Bogota on a cargo plane, which then flew to Peru’s capital Lima to pick up 24 more animals.<\/p>\n

“It will be hugely satisfying to see these lions walking into the African Bush,” ADI Vice-President Tom Phillips was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.<\/p>\n

The lions were freed after the use of wild animals was banned in Peru in 2011 and Colombia in 2013.<\/p>\n

The 5,000-hectare (12,355 acres) Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary is on private land and already houses six other rescued lions and two tigers.<\/p>\n

The lion habitats there would be steadily expanded over the coming months as the lions became familiar with their new life and were introduced to each other, said ADI.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{More than 30 lions rescued from circuses in Colombia and Peru have been flown to South Africa to start a new life in a sanctuary.} Reporters said they appeared a little distressed but healthy after their long journey. A circus surrendered some of the lions, while others were seized in raids. The US-based group Animal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[249],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-25019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-bbc"],"bylines":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"contributors":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25019"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=25019"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=25019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}