The whole story started when a Romanian zoo was closed and 5 lions were left behind. The lions were taken from the wilderness and placed in a zoo. They had to adapt with changes in their new lives. They adapted to their new lives in that zoo where they did not hunt, where they had food offered, where they lost the most important part of their wild natures "hunting". They became half domestic in somehow and after that adaption, they were left behind. To adapt once again but this time it was very cruel on them. Romania is overloaded with lions so there was no place to have them. Lions did not know where to go.
They even lived between some greenhouses and a rubbish dump. They had to return to their origin nature and depend on themselves to find food with no wilderness. Imagine what they have been through!
Their veterinarian could not and did not want to give up on them and did not accept the possibility that these animals will be put into sleep. He started looking around for another place but as mentioned before Romania is full of lions.
"Four Paws" managed to help them and they were moved to the Big Cat Sanctuary LIONSROCK in South Africa. LIONSROCK is a project provides an appropriate, lifelong home for big cats that were kept inadequate conditions in zoos, circuses or private captivity. The 5 lions were anesthetized and their next level of the journey started. Four Paws prepared home for these 5 lions after their arrival.
The most precious moments of this journey were when they took their first steps into freedom. The lions started to smell, sniff, roar and wander around freely. These moments were breathtaking!
