Through the bars of their rusty cages on the back of a trailer, they gaze pathetically out. Three pitiful lions, kept illegally without a permit by a touring circus in Dordogne, France.
Their world is a barren circus ‘beast-wagon’, divided into three cramped compartments, each just 6ft long. They don’t even have a shelf to sleep on, and are never given access to an exercise area. A few square feet in a rusty metal cage that has been welded shut. That’s the sum total of their world.
Two of the lions are females, and they have had their front claws cruelly removed by a previous owner.
These animals have literally spent years caged for 24 hours every day. They are kept by this circus for breeding, and 15 year old Nalla has produced 20 cubs during the seven years she has spent in the trailer, which have probably been sold on to other circuses. Eight year old Shada has had three litters of cubs. Her first litter died and her other cubs have been sold on.
Lions ought to be magnificent creatures, embodying the spirit of freedom, the pride of the African savannah. But here at the French circus the trio lie dejected in their cramped metal cages. Degraded so people can be entertained, living a life of despair and deprivation.
We need to rescue them. These majestic animals - the two females, Nalla and Shada, and Djunka, a male – belong in Africa. Please, join our team and support our campaign to bring the three lions home.
Their world is a barren circus ‘beast-wagon’, divided into three cramped compartments, each just 6ft long. They don’t even have a shelf to sleep on, and are never given access to an exercise area. A few square feet in a rusty metal cage that has been welded shut. That’s the sum total of their world.
Two of the lions are females, and they have had their front claws cruelly removed by a previous owner.
These animals have literally spent years caged for 24 hours every day. They are kept by this circus for breeding, and 15 year old Nalla has produced 20 cubs during the seven years she has spent in the trailer, which have probably been sold on to other circuses. Eight year old Shada has had three litters of cubs. Her first litter died and her other cubs have been sold on.
Lions ought to be magnificent creatures, embodying the spirit of freedom, the pride of the African savannah. But here at the French circus the trio lie dejected in their cramped metal cages. Degraded so people can be entertained, living a life of despair and deprivation.
We need to rescue them. These majestic animals - the two females, Nalla and Shada, and Djunka, a male – belong in Africa. Please, join our team and support our campaign to bring the three lions home.
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