Newz: December 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

December 2007

Please Join Laura Simms and our International Staff for the New Year in Our Last Great Endeavor As We Rehome all the Animals from the Buhusi Zoo in Romania

Almost every existing zoo in Romania has closed because they are unable to fulfill EU standards. The few sanctuaries available need to be rebuilt, redesigned, receive licenses and/or upgrade conditions. We have successfully seen three of our six lions moved by BORN FREE to South Africa’s Shamwari Refuge, and WSPA take four of our five bears to a sanctuary in the mountainous forests near Brasov, (see photos below) with the promise of moving our last bear, a Tibetan Female named Ursula, as soon as a new enclosure is built.

Shamwari Refuge	Enjoying a new home in Brasov

URSULA
Even though Ursula has been promised a new home in Brasov, there is a separate enclosure needed for a Tibetan Bear, especially one that is mostly blind, that has to be built. She is staying with the Buhusi Zoo until the winter is over. We have opened up her space to give her more room, and our in-country assistant Alina Ababei, brings her fruits and weekly fish to improve her diet. We pay to have her cage, cleaned weekly.


STORK, DEER, GOATS, HORSES, AND BABOONS
The single stork, the deer and goats, several of the horses, and the baboons are promised new homes in a Zoo in Barlad. They cannot be moved until the Berlad Zoo receives a new license, and until a more appropriate enclosure is expanded for our little baboon family. Lions Roar is committed to the care of these animals until they are rehomed.

Dingoes	Deer	Baboons

DINGOES, DEER, BABOONS
DINGOES The dingoes will remain in terrible conditions throughout this winter at the Buhusi Zoo. There is a chance that a remarkable woman with an excellent dog shelter in Bacau will create enclosures for them with grass, ground and proper care that far exceed what might have been available at the Berlad Zoo. Our fingers are crossed!! We are committed to helping her achieve these conditions so we can move them as soon as possible. But everything is slow in Romania authority is complex, and the cold snows have all ready begun to fall.
We have bought hay and grass, wood and wood chips, food and medical supplies for the animals to help get them through the harsh Moldavian winter. We have horseshoes made to help the horses walk safely on the icy outdoors.

Hay for Winter		Making New Horseshoes

DOGS AND CATS
Jane Sanderson has arranged pet passports for the dogs and cats kept in cages in the Zoo. If they were to remain in Romania, they would no doubt be chained and miserable, or euthanized. With the help of an animal protection agency in Bucharest, APAR, they have been given rabies shots and received medical aid when necessary to prepare for the journey which will take place this spring. In the meantime, we have purchased plastic to insulate parts of their cages, built new wood houses for heat and improved their diets. We long to see them rehomed and taken in to families in the UK. A small miracle!

Cats in their cage

LIONS IN AFRICA AND IN ROMANIA Our biggest joy are the three lions now in Africa in the sanctuary whose photo you saw above. Here two of them are reclining on a hillside. Born Free reports to us that not only are they enjoying themselves, and getting healthy, but that the caretakers love to come and watch these amazing creatures play and rest together in their new home, and flirt with a young lion nearby.

New Home for the Lions

Our heartache are the three remaining lions. They were used as “cute” cubs for tourist’s photographs. Kept in miserable conditions and fed poorly resulted in malnutrition and spinal problems. In the last year, we have improved their lives in Buhusi as best we can with the help of BORN FREE and APAR: increasing the space in which they live, and providing medical assistance. Born Free’s Animal Care Consultant, Tony Wiles enlarged the space, provided them with larger water basins, constructed platforms indoors and outdoors, made cement safe entrances for their indoor cages and placed unmovable large tree trunks that they can scratch and play with. Lion’s Roar provided indoor heaters four years ago and paid for winter wood this year to keep their small indoor area toasty.

The Loving Couple	More space in their old cage	Bella is blind, but faring all right

Our three remaining lions need to be moved or they will be killed. It is hard to describe the beauty and gentleness of these particular creatures. They deserve to have a long life with grass and room to roam. Romany and Gypsy are a loving couple. Bella is very responsive. We want to encourage and help create a sanctuary for all the disabled lions of Romania, especially our three beloved creatures. They cannot travel because their spines are weak.
If we were to create a sanctuary they would have a decent future, and they would be an invaluable educational aid for children who desperately need to learn about care and the misuse of animals, let alone the abuse and lack of care of local children. I have watched children stare sadly at these creatures when they were filthy, starving and unable to walk more than three feet in any direction. I have also had a chance to see the children cheer when the lions were playing and rolling in piles of grass and hay; smile to see their eyes shining and their manes again fluffy after months of vitamins and better food.

LIONS ROAR STAFF NEEDS YOUR HELP!!
Become a Zoo Keeper of the Heart!

Jane Sanderson will return to Buhusi in March, to oversee the rehoming of animals and negotiate the destiny of our remaining lions. We need your help for the last time. We have a donation page on our website listing specific needs. Please help. Any donation large or small goes a long way! And if you have any contacts, suggestions or time for working on our projects, please let us know.
www.thelionsroar.us
Schools are welcome to partner with Lions’ Roar. Laura Simms has gone to classrooms and auditoriums telling stories about the animals in the zoo and performing her world-renowned tales. Please call us if you think your kids could assist (212-674-3479 or www.laurasimms.com). We are asking everyone who has helped us before to donate for the last time in order to keep the animals well fed, healthy and able to be moved with kindness to their new homes.
Donations to Lions Roar are made out to THE UNITY PROJECT, inc. our fiscal sponsor. There is a form on the website, as well as a paypal application.

Thank you so much for your kindness and care!!

Thank you,

Laura Simms