We are asking that the lions at Oran Zoo are put into a sanctuary

It was a young 21 year-old man who blew the whistle on social media a few days ago. Shocked by what he had discovered within this establishment, Ziyed published a video, thanks to which we found out about these animals’ alarming situation.

On the premises, several lions are forced to share minuscule cages that do not allow them to exert themselves, play, or even less to escape the watch of visitors and the surrounding racket. While they do not sit still, lethargic, they show heavy stereotypy behaviours, tirelessly repeating the same movements. Staring outside from behind the prison bars, a thin lioness roars.

According to our information, she and her unfortunate companions would only receive food once a day, and a visibly insufficient quantity of it.

Outraged by the distress and thinness of these animals, who remind us of that of Jon, Hannah, Céleste, Marli, and Patty when we saved them from the Cirque de Paris, or even the incessant comings and goings of the lionesses and tigers at Parc Saint Léger, we wrote to the French Ambassador in Algeria for her to intervene for these big cats along with the Algerian government.

We stand ready to find places in a sanctuary and to organise the transport fees for these lions to be taken from the Oran Zoo to a new life where cages, boredom, and hunger will be nothing but a distant memory.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice