Four lion cubs orphaned during the war in Ukraine have arrived safely at a Minnesota animal sanctuary that has vowed to provide them with permanent homes.
A male cub named Taras and three females named Stefania, Lesya and Prada, who are between four and five months old, have spent the last three weeks at the Poznan Zoo in Poland. Their arrival on Tuesday marked the final step in an arduous journey after experiencing sporadic shelling and drone strikes in Ukraine, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, one of several groups working to rescue animals from war.
“These cubs have endured more in their short lives than any animal should,” Meredith Whitney, manager of the fund’s wildlife rescue program, said in a statement. “They were born in hatcheries in Ukraine during the war and then orphaned within a few weeks.”
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Their new home is The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, about 90 miles north of Minneapolis. They were put on a plane returning to the United States from Poland. It landed in Minneapolis on Tuesday, from where sanctuary staff took them to the facility where a veterinarian evaluated them and gave them a warm place to rest. The flight was funded in part by the New York-based Andrew Sabin Family Foundation.
Lion cubs that were rescued from the war in Ukraine by the International Fund for Animal Welfare adjust to their new home at The Wildcat Sanctuary on November 30, 2022, in Sandstone, Minnesota. The pups were born in Ukraine at breeding facilities.
(Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP)
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Dr. Andrew Kushnir, an American fund veterinarian who accompanied the pups on their flight, cared for the pups in the Ukraine and Poland. Despite the drone strikes and airstrikes, he prepared his specialized formula every three hours, the fund said. On nights when the power went out, he used his arms and legs to warm his milk bottles.
The pups came from two litters, Whitney said. Three were rescued from Odessa, she said, while Prada, the eldest, was born in a hatchery in kyiv. Rescuers don’t know what happened to the mothers, she added.
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The nonprofit Wildcat Sanctuary is home to nearly 130 lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards and other wildcats, many of whom were rescued from the exotic pet trade, including the four cubs. To ensure the cats’ peace and quiet, he doesn’t display them in public, instead letting them roam fenced enclosures in the middle of the Minnesota woods. The sanctuary offers virtual tours through its website and Facebook page.
