Simba the lion and a wolf called Akela have been rescued from a zoo in war-torn Ukraine and brought to Romania in a hazardous four-day journey.
The Romanian animal rights group that was involved in the operation says the mission was “full of dangers” and red tape at the border slowed it down even more.
„It was the hardest rescue we’ve ever done,” said animal welfare group Patrocles House on Wednesday.
The adult male lion and the gray wolf were awake during the treacherous journey as there weren’t any tranquilizers in Ukraine, the group said.
The animals arrived Monday at a zoo in Radauti northeast Romania from Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine.
“After a four-day journey through bombed-out areas, we arrived last night,” the animal rescue group said in a Facebook post. ”Twenty-four hours was added to the journey because large animals can’t cross the Siret border crossing.”
It took six hours to unload the animals safely and settle them into their temporary enclosures.
“They are safe now. We use the word ‘safe’ deliberately as these animals were saved from certain death,” the post said.
They will remain in quarantine for 21 days and then be relocated. Simba will move to a sanctuary in Africa while the wolf will be resettled in a sanctuary in Romania.
“Mission accomplished…thanks to an army of people who put their hearts into it,“ the post said. Several animal rights groups and individuals from Ukraine and Britain helped the rescue effort.
Zaporizhzhia has Europe’s biggest nuclear plant. There was heavy fighting there this month between Ukrainians and invading Russian forces.
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