New home in S Africa for four Bengal tigers abandoned by circus in Argentina

After deciding that the Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in the town of Bethlehem in South Africas Free State province would be the best place for them, the Four Paws team of veterinarians and wildlife experts spent several weeks with the tigers to prepare them for the 70-hour trip to South Africa.

A South African animal sanctuary has provided a new home to four Bengal tigers that were living in a cage in Argentina for up to 15 years after being abandoned by a circus there.

The two tigers were left in the care of a farmer by the circus 15 years ago in San Luis, and had two offspring during their stay in a train carriage converted to a cage in cramped conditions. “These tigers have never felt grass or earth under their paws. It’s the first time they can see the sky above them, not just metal bars and a roof,” veterinarian Dr Amir Khalil from the animal rescue organisation Four Paws International told the daily Citizen here. After the organisation learnt of the dire straits of the animals in 2021, it started looking at options to resettle them. After deciding that the Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in the town of Bethlehem in South Africa’s Free State province would be the best place for them, the Four Paws’ team of veterinarians and wildlife experts spent several weeks with the tigers to prepare them for the 70-hour trip to South Africa. Named Sandro, Mafalda, Messi and Gustavo, the tigers have been placed in a special enclosure that is fenced off, where they are being monitored for a few months before being released into a larger enclosed are that will be as close as they could get to their natural habitat. “They need some time now to calm down, and they still have a long way to learn about the area and the new territory that they will get later on,” Khalil said. Lionsrock was started in 2007 with a group of nine lions from the bankrupt Austrian safari park Gänserndorf and another from one of the many condemned Romanian zoos. It now has over 100 big cats, mostly lions, but also some tigers and leopards. The rescued animals originate from Austria, Bulgaria, Congo, France, Gaza, Germany, Switzerland, Jordan, Serbia, Romania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and South Africa, Iraq and Syria, according to the organisation’s website. More than ten different buck species have also been introduced to the vast area. Lionrock has restarted visitor programmes of walks and viewing feeding as the Covid-19 restrictions have been eased in South Africa.

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