9 lions, facing starvation at Ukrainian zoo, rescued from Putin's wrath
Breaking the Chains, Warriors of Wildlife and Worldwide Vets travelled to the war-torn Black Sea port of Odesa to save nine lions from Biopark.
Follow(Image Credit:- Getty Images file photo of visitors at a zoo in Odesa, Ukraine, used for representation purpose)
In what is being dubbed as one of the largest ever big-cat rescue operations from an active warzone, three animal groups joined hands to save nine lions facing starvation at a Ukrainian zoo.Â
Breaking the Chains, Warriors of Wildlife and Worldwide Vets travelled to the war-torn Black Sea port of Odesa earlier this week to save these big cats from Biopark, where meat supplies were running dangerously low.
The rescuers crossed three borders in an over 72-hour journey to ensure two adult male lions, five females and a male and female cub were safely taken to their temporary new home in Romania's Targu Mures.
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According to a DailyMail report, the mission was the brainchild of South African animal advocate Lionel de Lange, founder of Warriors of Wildlife. He joined forces with Brits Gemma Campling, director of Worldwide Vets and Breaking the Chains founder and British Army veteran Tom.
Taking to Facebook, Breaking the Chains expressed relief in successfully carrying out the rescue operation.
"For the past 72 hours, Tom and the team have been working alongside Lionel (@warrior of wildlife) & Veterinarian Gemma (Worldwide Vets) to extract 9 lions from Ukraine," the May 24th post mentioned.
"We are so pleased to tell you that all nine lions are now successfully out of Ukraine and on their way to their temporary home before going to South Africa," the post added.
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"Over the coming days, Tom will place up a full post with all the details of the extraction, but for now, they still have an incredibly long drive to do with these magnificent lions," the statement said.
"This operation took a large amount of finances from us in order to achieve this mammoth task. If you could please continue to support us and donate where possible, it would be greatly appreciated and will help us save even more animals," the post concluded.
Meanwhile, Lionel de Lange told DailyMail that all the lions would get a new life at South Africa's Simbonga Game Reserve or a wildlife sanctuary in the United States. The founder of Warriors of Wildlife also thanked all those who helped raise funds for the mission.
"It was an international operation, and it was great to work with other people who were keen on getting this amazing job done. I hope we can go back in under the Russian noses again and rescue more animals together in the future," Lionel said to DailyMail.
"It's great for me to get any animal out of a bad situation, but I suppose for me as someone who has lived in Ukraine, it was extra special. The lions future was super bleak staying in Odesa because the writing is on the wall and it looks like there's not going to be an end to the war anytime soon," he added.
"But while there's people like me, Tom and Gemma and the amazing people we work with and who supported us, none of these animals are going to be left behind," Lionel concluded.
