Four lion cubs that were orphaned during the war in Ukraine have arrived safely at a Minnesota animal sanctuary that has pledged to provide them a permanent home.
A male cub named Taras and three females, named Stefania, Lesya and Prada, who are all between four and five months old, spent the last three weeks at the Poznan Zoo in Poland.
Their arrival on Tuesday marked the final step in an arduous journey after they lived through sporadic Russian bombings and drone attacks in Ukraine, said the International Fund for Animal Welfare, one of several groups working to rescue animals from the war.
Photo: AP
“These cubs have endured more in their short lives than any animal should,” fund wildlife rescue program manager Meredith Whitney said in a statement. “They were born at breeding facilities in Ukraine during the war and then orphaned at a few weeks old.”
Their new home is the Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, about 45km north of Minneapolis.
They were put on a plane that was returning to the US from Poland. It landed Tuesday in Minneapolis, from where sanctuary staffers brought them to the facility, where they were assessed by a veterinarian and given a warm place to rest.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The flight was funded in part by the New York-based Andrew Sabin Family Foundation.
Andrew Kushnir, a US veterinarian with the fund who accompanied the cubs on their flight, had also cared for them in Ukraine and Poland.
Despite drone attacks and airstrikes, he prepared their specialized formula every three hours, the fund said.
On nights when the power went out, he used his arms and legs to warm their milk bottles.
The cubs came from two litters, Whitney said, adding that three were rescued from Odesa, while Prada, the oldest, was born at a breeder in Kyiv.
The rescuers do not know what became of the mothers, she added.
The nonprofit Wildcat Sanctuary shelters nearly 130 lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards and other wildcats, many of which were rescued from the trade in exotic pets, including the four cubs.
To assure peace and tranquility for the cats, it does not put them on public display, but lets them roam fenced enclosures amid the woods of Minnesota.
However, the sanctuary offers virtual tours via its Web site and Facebook page.
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