Two lions from Mideast war zones reach South African refuge

LIONSROCK BIG CAT SANCTUARY, South Africa — Two lions rescued from neglected zoos in war zones in Iraq and Syria arrived in South Africa on Monday to live at a sanctuary with other animals that survived harsh conditions in captivity elsewhere in the world.

The male lions were transported in metal crates on a Qatar Airways flight after leaving an animal refuge in Jordan on Sunday. They were loaded onto vehicles for a drive of several hours to their new home at the Lionsrock facility near the town of Bethlehem. The lions emerged into separate grassy enclosures, and other lions behind nearby fences let out deepthroated growls and moans.

Born in captivity, the lions had never been on the continent. They were emaciated and dehydrated after the international animal welfare group Four Paws extracted them from a zoo in eastern Mosul in Iraq and an amusement park near Aleppo in Syria.

Most of the 40 animals at the Mosul zoo died of starvation or were killed in bombings while some escaped from their enclosures, according to Four Paws. The group’s members reached the location a year ago and evacuated the only two animals they found, a bear and the roughly 4-year-old lion named Simba.

The other lion, 2-yearold Saeed, was rescued in July along with 12 other animals from Syria’s Magic World amusement park. The animals reached Jordan after staying for two weeks in Turkey, whose government assisted with the evacuation.