Newz: April 2007

THE ZOO NEWZ
The Lion’s Roar, A Laura Simms Community and Compassion Initiative
Saving Animals in Need and
Changing the story a community tells about itself

April 2007

At last some positive action, our bears are on the move! Baby and Ben have already left the zoo and been transferred to Brasov Bear Sanctuary, a truly wonderful place. With so many Romanian bears in desperate need of a new natural home, it is amazing that all our bears have a secure future ahead of them. We thank Cristina Lapis and her team and WSPA for making this possible, it is a dream come true for us and our bears and a testament to the months of hard work we have put in to make this happen visit www.wspa.org.uk/bear and www.mailonsunday.co.uk/bears


Three of our lions Laludia, Scar and Mutu will be transferred to Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa as soon as the import permits are finished and we sincerely thank Tricia Holford, for all her hard work and the Born Free Foundation for making this possible.

Sadly our other 3 lions, like so many others in Romanian zoos, face an uncertain future. Their deformed spines make it impossible to move them far and there is nowhere for them to go within a safe travelling distance from the zoo. We desperately need sponsors and funds to build a new sanctuary within Romania for these sad, beautiful, creatures so that they can have some quality of life, however brief. They are not alone; there are big cats all over Romania, in zoos that have closed, that desperately need to be moved. We are working tirelessly to find people to sponsor or donate towards a sanctuary that will help them all.

April was busy at the zoo, we cleaned and disinfected all the cages and made repairs. Meat, vitamins, fruit and vegetables were bought for the animals and we purchased 2 tonnes of hay for the herbivores.

New legislation dictates that all the animals in closed zoos must be rehomed. We are in negotiation to build new enclosures for the deer, stork, goats and ponies at an alternative site. Our thanks go to Lynn Orchard who has visited the zoo since 1995 and is helping us to relocate these animals. However, we need funds to relocate our 7 dingos which is proving an almost impossible task and very expensive. Our baboons, which had a place in a South African sanctuary but due to circumstances outside our control cannot be relocated there, need a suitable safe place to live out the rest of their lives also. Sadly our baby baboon was killed by her mother after 2 months, even though she was separated and given good fresh food, the stress of confinement was just too much for her.

Our 4 dogs and 5 cats also need new homes and we are looking to relocate them to the UK under the pet passport scheme. They are all friendly, good with children and just desperate to leave their cages and live with a family. There is nowhere for them to go in Romania and nobody wants them. We need financial help to give them a new life.

If you can help us in any way please contact us. Any donation however small will help us to help the animals at Buhusi Zoo. Our mission is to give them all a safe secure future in a more natural environment.