A GROUP of endangered lions and other animals have been rescued and re-homed locally after their owner was convicted of animal welfare charges.
Last week Lindsay Mckenna, who runs Wildside Exotic Rescue located between Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth realised she was going to take on more Mountain Lions, also known as pumas, she appealed to local builders to help erect a new enclosure for the animals.
She had a great response with the new facility being built over the coming weeks.
Last Friday a team from Wildside Exotic Rescue travelled to Hertfordshire to pick up the four remaining Mountain Lions.
Having been darted with a sedative to aid travelling, the lions were in semi-relaxed state on their arrival at their new home, but this didn’t mean the team could take it easy as all the necessary precautions were taken to deliver the eldest lion, named Kitkat, to an exterior den, while the three younger ones recovered in a specially adapted barn.
Lindsay, who has run the rescue centre giving homes to many neglected animals for the past 15 years, explained that they had enough space for the new arrivals as they were used to living in smaller enclosures, which would give them enough time to acclimatise while their new den and outside spaces were being erected.
“We had a successful day catching lions and bringing them home,” Lindsay said. I was asked if we could help out as there are very few centres with dangerous wild animal licences.
“I worked closely with The Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent and James Cork at Hertfordshire Zoo, who swooped into the and cared for the animals. However, the deadline of January 25 was fast approaching and any animal that didn’t find a home by that date would be euthanised.
“We couldn’t let that happen, so we agreed to take on four more Mountain Lions, making a total of eight, two Lynx and one bobcat.
“This involved a lot of planning with 75 local builders offering help coming to our rescue to build two big enclosures. I anticipate this happening very quickly. A lot of positives have come out this animal emergency.”
