The little lion who was saved from Ukraine in 2022 got a companion.
The currently 30-week-old animal was rescued from the Melitopol zoo in eastern Ukraine by private individuals from Transcarpathia and eastern Ukraine. The then 9-week-old puppy was first taken in by an enthusiastic animal protection family from Ungvár, but it became clear to them that this would not be a long-term solution for the animal, so they contacted our Zoo.
Our employees acted immediately and, with the help of the authorities, took over the animal near the border. After a general veterinary examination and vaccination, it was taken to the home of one of the park's zookeepers, experienced in raising big cats, for a few weeks, as it had been raised by humans.
At first, the puppy's main food was milk replacer formula, but our colleague gradually got him used to solid feed.
As soon as the animal was eating stably, it was returned to our animal park and we started rewilding it in the quarantine building of our park, but here we no longer asked for human help.
One of the little lions born in the Miskolc Zoo became her companion, so both young females will soon be full members of our park's lion pack.
You can also see a short film about the small cub on our YouTube channel.
