30 Lions and Tigers Begin Long Journey From Shuttered Argentine Zoo to Sanctuaries
Thirty big cats from a closed Argentine zoo are being flown to sanctuaries in South Africa and the US after years of poor conditions.
Thirty lions and tigers that spent years in cramped concrete enclosures at a former Argentine zoo have begun their journey to new homes in wildlife sanctuaries on two continents. The animals, rescued from the shuttered Luján Zoo near Buenos Aires, were loaded into large transport crates on Friday as part of an operation led by the international animal-welfare group Four Paws.
The relocation is one of the largest of its kind for captive big cats. Nine tigers and six lions are headed to Lionsrock, a Four Paws sanctuary in South Africa, while eight tigers and seven lions will travel to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado. The cats bound for the United States will fly via Chile, while those going to South Africa will pass through Frankfurt or Amsterdam before a four-hour drive to their final destination.
Some of the animals had been trained to enter the crates voluntarily, but others needed sedation. Two tigers were lifted in canvas slings and carried by hand to their transport crates on Friday.
The Luján Zoo was shut down by Argentine authorities in 2020 over safety and animal-welfare concerns. At its peak, it housed about 200 big cats. When Four Paws first arrived in 2023, only 112 remained, and by the time the group took over the site two years later, that number had dropped to 62. Many of the animals suffer from obesity, muscle loss, dental and kidney disease, and complications from declawing.
Four Paws has retrained former zoo staff in modern animal-care practices and improved the cats' diets and medical treatment. More than 20 lions and tigers remain at Luján while the organization continues to search for long-term homes for them.