Lions rescued from war in Ukraine find a home in Colorado
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- Lions rescued from the war in Ukraine are now calling Southern Colorado home. These lions are part of the largest warzone rescue ever carried out.
The Wild Animal Sanctuary played a major role in bringing an 11- lion pride to safety.
Seven of the lions are now living in Springfield on a 10,000-acre property, one of three owned by the Wild Animal Sanctuary.
"When it got to the point where Odesa was getting bombed then the zoo was like we just want to get animals to a safe place and they can just be there forever. So at that point, it was something we could definitely help with," said Pat Craig, the executive director at the Wild Animal Sanctuary.
Craig says it was in May that they were able to spring into action, but required paperwork and permits prevented them from immediately bringing the lions to the United States.
"We had a group where we worked with a consortium of animal welfare agencies and everybody had their own part in the thing and evacuated them into Romania for about five months," said Craig.
In September, the lions arrived in the US. Seven of them acclimated to life in Springfield.
"They’re in a big 80-acre habitat and eat 200 to 300 pounds of meat a day," said Craig.
The other two are just a year old. They now live at the Keenesburg facility.
"Even though they’re not nursing, they still need a mom and someone to take care of them, and so we just introduced them yesterday to a female lion that is going to be their mom and it went really well. Very happy," said Craig.
Craig says they're also happy these animals weren't left behind and it's why the organization was created.
"The animals kind of get the short end of the stick and obviously, especially in something like this where human lives were at risk and everybody was endangered so a lot of people had to pack up and leave their pets behind," said Craig.
The sanctuary in Springfield is closed to the public, but you can see the lions at the Keenesburg location.
The other two lions from the pack are now living in South Africa.
