Ukrainian lion moves from Frisian shelter to South African reserve | Animals

Vasylyna made the journey to South Africa together with another lion, Nikola. For this purpose, they were taken care of in a shelter for big cats run by the animal welfare organization FOUR PAWS. That reception center is located in the Frisian village of Nijeberkoop.

“The move of Vasylyna and Nikola means that they finally get the chance to live in a large reserve, surrounded by other lions,” says Petra Sleven of FOUR PAWS. “While it is sad that they never got the chance to be released into the wild, we are happy that we can offer them a more natural life here.”

The lions flew to South Africa on a KLM cargo plane on Thursday evening. There they end up in a reserve of 1,250 hectares. That reserve is managed by the South African branch of FOUR PAWS.

Vasylyna comes from Ukraine, where she was kept as a pet. During the war, she managed to escape and wandered the streets of a village near the city of Kharkiv.

The lion was eventually captured and taken to a temporary wildlife sanctuary in Ukraine. It was then decided to take her to the Netherlands, where she arrived in June 2023. Due to the war, there was not enough space and care available for the animal in Ukraine.

Nikola was kept illegally as a pet in Montenegro. He managed to escape in February 2022 and wandered the streets of the coastal town of Budva for ten days. Authorities managed to capture the exhausted and malnourished lion and arranged for him to be taken to the shelter in Friesland.

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