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Please Read About Our Lioness
BELLA'S STORY
One
of the most heartbreaking sites in the Buhusi Zoo was
watching two lions, male and female, lose their five day old
cub. The keepers had no knowledge of how to care for the infant
and against all advice, they touched the cub. Bella, fierce and
gentle loving mother, was suffering from glaucoma in one eye and was
blind in the other. But she was a good mother and she had a sweet
relationship to her beautiful partner Fuji. It was obvious that
they were proud and caring parents. Bella mourned. But sorrows
multiplied and an uncared for kidney illness, easily
treatable in a zoo with medical help, killed Fuji.
The depth of despair and hopelessness that Bella exhibited was
penetrating. Jane Sanderson, during a visit reported sitting
against the rusted cage bars with her back against Bella providing her
with the only comfort she had. The cage was nearly impossible to
clean and we feared that Bella would simply perish of a broken
heart.
When the zoo was closed, there were few options for a half blind,
depressed and malnutritioned lioness.
An amazing series of auspicious incidents took place and today Bella is
in Malawi. She is healthy and content. Bella's story is a
success story for us. It is also a testament to what human
beings can do to repair the misery that is the life of caged
creatures who lack proper care, space and love. Once a Tibetan
teacher explained that animals feel pain more intensely than we do
since they have no filter of thought to mitigate their
agony. Because of the compassion and dedication of Born
Free you can read with increasing joy about Bella's beautiful saga and
her return to Africa.
Each of these events are complex and take the unceasing hard work of
many people and many donors. Without Sue and Jane and Tricia
Holford of Born Free this would never have happened. Read on
...
Laura Simms
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“People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity.”
--
Oscar Wilde
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