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| Sonja foreground; credit Born Free Foundation |
In the midst of the Sixth Great Extinction
{08.05.07} it is sometimes difficult to find a positive wildlife story. However, know dear readers that two nine year old lionesses are now enjoying their freedom in the South African wild. After performing in a German circus for six years, Sonja and Maggie were rescued and transported 6,000 miles in January from a Belgian rehabilitation center via Heathrow and Nairobi to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Quel fatiqué! Kenya Airways provided the transportation aboard their inaugural Dreamliner flight. That is corporate promotion with a difference. Too bad it takes complicated human logistics for lions to return to their rightful habitatin the 21st century.
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| Maggie; credit BFF |
Nevertheless, once in South Africa, the lionesses were taken to
Shamwari Game Reserve by Land Rover (another plug). The senior vet at Shamwari told media the lions travelled well considering the distance and abrupt change in climate. When they left Belgium it was snowing. After resting from the two day journey, the lionesses began to enjoy natural grass, trees, and open spaces for the first time in their lives. Soon, the sisters' appetite returned and they enjoyed dinning on blesbok
(Damaliscus dorcas phillipsi) together. A good indication they have left their circus days far behind. Maggie will always have a reminder of her captivity in cramped quarters--the end of her tail had to be amputated due to infection.
This lion story has a happier ending. The efforts of
Born Free Foundation and its corporate supporters to save Maggie and Sonja are laudible. 'Feel good' stories cannot alter the stark reality. For all lions to have a secure future as a species they must be given the legal protections afforded other endangered species. The United States Fish & Wildlife Service
has proposed listing them as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a good first step. Remaining habitat for lions must be preserved from human encroachment and trophy hunting, including the immoral practice of "canned hunts", must stop until lions are once again numerous enough to withstand survival on a radically altered planet that is also their home.