A mountain lion named Mufasa was freed from the back of a truck, where he had been chained for almost 20 years with a heavy harness and chains wrapped around his body.
In a dramatic stand-off between police and members of the circus, the lion was released into Animal Defenders International’s Spirit of Freedom (ADI), a rescue centre near Lima for rehabilitation, reports The Independent.
This all started back in 2011 when Peru banned wild animals in circuses. However, not everyone cared for the rule and in April of 2015, the ADI received information that Mufasa was still being illegally kept chained by Circo Koreander circus.
So the ADI called wildlife officials and the police to help them rescue the lion. Unfortunately, because of the conditions, Mufasa was in no shape to be returned to the wild right away.
YouTube / Animal Defenders International
‘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,’ said ADI President, Jan Creamer, who led the rescue team in Peru.
The ADI took him to a rehabilitation centre and released him a few months later in the Tambopata National Reserve in the Amazon rainforest in southeastern Peru.
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