She might not be registered with home affairs, but one of South Africa's newest immigrants, seven-month-old lion cub Freya — who travelled all the way from Lebanon — is safe in the Western Cape and is adapting well to her new way of life in the wide open spaces of a South African lion sanctuary.
Shane Hart, the assistant director of Drakenstein Lion Park near Paarl, told TimesLIVE Premium their newest resident is doing fine.
“Freya was surrendered by her owner in Lebanon to the animal rights organisation, Animals Lebanon. Their executive director, Jason Mier, knew about us because we have received six other lions from them in the past 10 to 12 years. Jason contacted us and we started making plans,” Hart said on Wednesday.
“The other Lebanon lions who came to stay with us are Assad, Stuart, Little Leo, Kelly, Isam and Pythagoras, known as Pi.”
Freya was held captive inside an enclosure for her entire life.
“The big challenge for her was adapting to the outdoors, as she had only lived indoors before arriving at the sanctuary. She's fascinated with the sights and smells of the other lions, as well as birds and the wind, which she would not have experienced before.”
The big cat arrived in South Africa in June.
For now, she is starting to find her feet as a lion in the (semi) wild.
“That is a journey on its own. Captive bred or reared lions can never function on their own in the wild. They are too human imprinted to survive on their own. With us, they get to live in enclosures that are about one hectare each on a farm of about 26 hectares,” Hart said.
Drakenstein has been saving lions for 26 years.
“In total we have saved about 60 lions in that time. At the moment we have 23 lions and one tiger at Drakenstein.”
“Freya's adapting absolutely phenomenally. She was quite self-assured as soon as she arrived, and she still is in her bigger enclosure — she immediately explored the entire camp and started playing with the grass and sticks.
“The biggest challenge was earning her trust. Given her background, she was slow to trust us, but she has accepted us as her safety with time and significant effort.”
According to Hart, in the wild, lions hunt and eat every seven to 11 days.
“But that is a huge amount of meat they consume in one sitting. We feed them three times a week. Their food consists of 70% chicken and a mix of beef, horse, donkey and wildebeest. Most of our food is donated by people who care.”
They are very picky when it comes to donated food.
“The meat has to be free of medicine, other contaminants and disease,” Hart said.
Mier, the executive director of Animals Lebanon, told TimesLIVE Premium they have their hands full when it comes to lion rescues.
“We had two lions in September, another in February, and got Freya on May 17. I went with her to South Africa (in June).”
Before that Mier took one of the previous lions, known as Pi, to South Africa.
“When I returned home, we were contacted by Freya's owner who asked if we could send her to a sanctuary. In this case, it was a surrender by the owner and not a confiscation. We appreciate when people make the correct decision,” Mier said on Wednesday.
“Freya was our 22nd big cat we handled over the years. She was nervous and apprehensive when she first arrived, but became friendly and calm after a few weeks with us. In June we took her to South Africa. Our happy ending is that she will eventually hopefully be reintegrated with Pi and the others.”
