Lion Rescue 2

A race against time to save four Ukrainian Lions

Chapter 1

Our story begins back in 2009 in Romania. Three prides of African Lions were living in filthy, tiny concrete pens, fed on a meagre diet of scraps and faced an uncertain future. The Zoos new director realised that they could not care for them and contacted Yorkshire Wildlife Park to see about re-homing the Lions.

The story of these Lions touched the hearts of people across Yorkshire and the surrounding areas and a public appeal raised a simply incredible £150,000 to build a new reserve to home these poor Animals.

Fast forward to February 2010, these magnificent animals to their new home in Yorkshire, 13 African Lions finally felt the real ground underneath their paws!
Nicknamed 'The Pride of Yorkshire', these incredible Lions settled in to their new home in Lion Country, firmly putting Yorkshire Wildlife Park on the map for animal conservation and rehabilitation around the world.

The directors of the park decided to support the creation of an independent charity to carry this work out on the international stage. Since then, the WildLife Foundation has gone from strength to strength, funding projects around the globe!

And that brings us onto...

Chapter 2

Fast forward to February of 2022, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine begins...

As the ongoing war continued and people fled the war torn areas, fearing for their lives and their families, heavily pregnant Mum, Aysa was found abandoned in a private Zoo in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, right in the centre of the conflict.

Thankfully Mum was rescued and moved to a different facility within the warzone where she gave birth her three cubs Teddi, Emi and Santa. Malnourished and surrounded by fighting, explosions and fear, rescuers struggled to help this poor family of Lions living in extreme circumstances with an uncertain future. Thankfully, in 2023 the family were temporarily rehomed to Poznan zoo in Poland.

Deputy Section Head of Carnivores, Colin Northcott, flew out to Poland to assess the family and begin planning their hopeful transfer to Yorkshire.

At the beginning of the week long assessment, the Lions were fearful and distressed, a truly heartbreaking sight to see. As the week progressed, the Lions slowly began to trust him more and more.

Lion Country here at Yorkshire Wildlife Park was built as a welfare facility and now we're in a position where we can offer a home to these poor Lions and hope that we can make a difference to their lives.

This heartbreaking story needs a happy ending. This family deserve a new safe and permanent home. A home in Lion Country.