After suffering years of chained captivity on the back of a pickup truck, the proud big cat has finally said goodbye to the circus for a tranquil life in his new forest domain.
These poignant scenes show how Mufasa’s fortunes changed for the better after a fraught operation to wrench him from a squalid life as a peepshow curiosity by British-based Animal Defenders International (ADI).
For more than 20 years, Mufasa, stolen from the wild as a cub, had suffered the indignity of being bound in chains and left to languish among rusting circus equipment as the travelling show meandered among remote South American villages.
Luckily, ADI received a tip on in April that Circo Koreander was operating illegally in a distant outpost of northern Peru.
Backed by police and wildlife officers, the charity moved in but were greeted with hostile resistance.
An eight-hour stand off ensued before riot police and a public prosecutor arrived and Mufasa, along with an Andean condor, were finally handed over.
At last, it was ᴛι̇ɱe for Peru’s last wild animal in circus captivity to be broken free from his sҺaᴄƙles.
Animal Defenders International President Jan Creamer who led the rescue team in Peru describes the first moment he was cut loose from his living hell.
“It was heartbreaking to see Mufasa chained among the circus equipment, living on the back of a pickup truck,” she says. “A heavy harness and chains were wrapped around his body and as we cut them away, he stretched, free, for the first ᴛι̇ɱe…”
This was the first act of an intrepid odyssey to return Mufasa to his native haunts. After being nursed back to health at ADI’s Spirit of Freedom rescue centre near Lima, it was ᴛι̇ɱe for the next stage of his journey by boat and road across Peru to his “forever home” on the edge of the Tambopata reserve in the Amazon rainforest.
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With his appetite and coat condition vastly improved after specialist veterinary treatment, Mufasa, now a grand old ɱaп of the big cat world, can enjoy his years amid the sounds and smells of the wilderness.
It was heartbreaking to see Mufasa chained among the circus equipment, living on the back of a pickup truck
Jan Creamer, Animal Defenders International President
He joins an endangered spectacled bear, three woolly monkeys, two spider monkeys and a macaw also saved during ADI’s Peruvian rescue operation.
“Mufasa’s story symbolises the suffering we have ended,” says Jan Creamer. “He was kept for years in chains in a truck, sleeping on metal, barely able to move. An unbearable torture. Now, in his twilight years, I hope people will help us give him back the life the circus stole from him.
“It is magical to see him moving about in and out of the trees in his own piece of protected forest.
“Mufasa was torn from the wild and has endured the worst possible life and will need special care so I hope people will help us give him a wonderful retirement by making a donation today.”
Nearly 100 animals have been rescued including bears, monkeys, lions, a tiger, and birds, and most have been rehomed to ADI facilities in Peru. The mission will culminate with the world’s biggest airlift taking 33 rescued circus lions to a new life at Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in South Africa.
The entire year-long mission, known as Operation Spirit of Freedom, has been funded by donations, and is expected to cost Animal Defenders International more than £1 million in total, with the biggest single cost being the Spirit of Freedom flight to take the lions to their new home.
ADI also says it is providing logistical support to Peruvian officials to enforce a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses and tackle the illegal wildlife trade.
To donate to Animal Defenders International care for Mufasa and almost 100 other animals saved during Operation Spirit of Freedom,