Yorkshire Wildlife Park Lion Rescue (Yorkshire Wildlife Park)

Very good luck to them! I can only hope they have the experience to look the lions, whose lives will certainly be very much improved if they do make it onto seven acres of Yorkshire farmland :)
 
Thank you for posting that! Hope something can be done for them ASAP seen dogs in bigger kennels, hope they raise the funds for the long term care to they look in very poor condition!
 
Jacobea said:
Very good luck to them! I can only hope they have the experience to look the lions, whose lives will certainly be very much improved if they do make it onto seven acres of Yorkshire farmland :)
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I wouldn`t worry about the experience of the staff at this Park to be able to look after a large pride of Lions,considering that the staff in charge are ex-Woburn.
 
Thanks OrangePerson i have been wondering where they intend to source the lions from,
Hopefully things go well and there should be no problem with the experiance but perhaps no breeding with a group of 14 allready cubs would be a nice touch but would not be needed.
From when they get to the Park it needs to be main focus to settle in the lions competely and get them up to top health again.
For the lions sake i hope they come to Britain - Good luck to them!
 
Riziki said:
From when they get to the Park it needs to be main focus to settle in the lions competely and get them up to top health again.
For the lions sake i hope they come to Britain - Good luck to them!
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They may find that a few are in such a poor state euthanasia is the kinder option than moving them. But its a commendable effort and deserves to succeed. I wonder if they can assemble them into a single group in Yorkshire, though.
 
Riziki said:
Hopefully things go well and there should be no problem with the experiance but perhaps no breeding with a group of 14 allready cubs would be a nice touch but would not be needed.
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The person I was talking to a few weeks ago said they'd be non-breeding as they are so inbred already.
 
That's really sad, I've donated. Sounds like they'd have a great life in Yorkshire, hope it works out, although like others have said, I highly doubt all 14 will make it here.
 
Some of you may have already read my thoughts on this matter but just in case you missed them:

'Save the Lions'....sorry. I appreciate and understand the thoughts and emotions but let us be realistic about this.
These 14 lions in a Romanion Zoo would be far better euthanased than brought to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. As a commercial exercise yes, it will be a whizz, and is sure to bring in thousands of visitors to see the 'saved' animals and make a lot of money. But they are being saved for what?

They should never be bred. They are of zero value to any conservation programme. All they are going to do is take up space that could be productively used for a something else. True enough there is an opportunity to educate but on its own that is not enough and certainly not a reason to bring these animals to the UK. Euthanasia is not cruel, unkind or painful. It is a realistic consideration and something applied to thousands of homeless cats and dogs in the UK each year.

It make me very angry when I see newspapers using emotional rubbish using words like SHOT (their capitals) and 'execution'. What absolute crap. The kindest option....really....really is to put the animals peacefully to sleep where they are. Not that my thoughts on the matter make a remotest bit of difference but I think that The Yorkshire Wildlife Park should step back from this deal and think for a moment. Is this conservation? Is it?
 
It is not conservation it is saving individuals,
These lions do have a right to be moved to a better place, where they can live in comfort,security and happily.
Yorkshire Wildife Park has plenty of space and 10 acres of what they have is indeed not very much - If Yorkshire Wildlife Park want to help move the individual animals that are well enough to make the move and nurse them back to health i wish them the best luck!
They are animals from all ages including young lions who still have their lives to live.We should not just Euthanasise them because they cannot speak out and say what they want we do not Euthanise people who are found in these types of hornedous conditions so why animals?
Euthanasia may not be cruel,unkind or painful but it is still ending lives of innocent individuals.
They have a chance in YWP and it should be taken although they may not all make it, it doenst mean the healthiest ones shouldnt make the trip to YWP.
I hope YWP the best of luck in bringing these lions to Britain.
I do hope i have not affended anyone it what i have said but i do feel very strong about this issue.

If it can be done why not do it?
 
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and once these lions have lived out their natural lives the park will then have the facilities to house lions properly and can join the breeding program, so why not spend a few years giving these lions a better life before focusing on 'valuable' lions?

i see no harm at all in the park taking on these lions.
 
I agree; it's humans who have put the lions in the predicament that they're in, and it's the responsibility of the same species to help them. I really think they deserve that second chance at a new life.
 
Peter Dickinson said:
Some of you may have already read my thoughts on this matter but just in case you missed them:

'Save the Lions'....sorry. I appreciate and understand the thoughts and emotions but let us be realistic about this.
These 14 lions in a Romanion Zoo would be far better euthanased than brought to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. As a commercial exercise yes, it will be a whizz, and is sure to bring in thousands of visitors to see the 'saved' animals and make a lot of money. But they are being saved for what?

They should never be bred. They are of zero value to any conservation programme. All they are going to do is take up space that could be productively used for a something else. True enough there is an opportunity to educate but on its own that is not enough and certainly not a reason to bring these animals to the UK. Euthanasia is not cruel, unkind or painful. It is a realistic consideration and something applied to thousands of homeless cats and dogs in the UK each year.

It make me very angry when I see newspapers using emotional rubbish using words like SHOT (their capitals) and 'execution'. What absolute crap. The kindest option....really....really is to put the animals peacefully to sleep where they are. Not that my thoughts on the matter make a remotest bit of difference but I think that The Yorkshire Wildlife Park should step back from this deal and think for a moment. Is this conservation? Is it?
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The only angle I am uncomfortable with is the depiction of Romania as unfit for keeping animals in captivity and the UK as some utopia that you can rescue animals to.

Otherwise, I disagree with your statement, in that there are plenty of conservation needs for wild African lions in some regions, large cat species will be, on the whole, no more than ambassadors for wild populations anyway, and I think the notion that an underfunded zoo in a country with different legislation is going to spend the large sum of money required to humanely euthanase 14 lions is unrealistic. Unless you feel shooting them comes under that category.

We are hardly overflowing with Asiatic lions needing UK holdings at the moment, and to be honest I find this project more sincere than the 'barbary' lion breeding programme.
 
Peter Dickinson said:
Some of you may have already read my thoughts on this matter but just in case you missed them:

'Save the Lions'....sorry. I appreciate and understand the thoughts and emotions but let us be realistic about this.
These 14 lions in a Romanion Zoo would be far better euthanased than brought to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. As a commercial exercise yes, it will be a whizz, and is sure to bring in thousands of visitors to see the 'saved' animals and make a lot of money. But they are being saved for what?

They should never be bred. They are of zero value to any conservation programme. All they are going to do is take up space that could be productively used for a something else. True enough there is an opportunity to educate but on its own that is not enough and certainly not a reason to bring these animals to the UK. Euthanasia is not cruel, unkind or painful. It is a realistic consideration and something applied to thousands of homeless cats and dogs in the UK each year.

It make me very angry when I see newspapers using emotional rubbish using words like SHOT (their capitals) and 'execution'. What absolute crap. The kindest option....really....really is to put the animals peacefully to sleep where they are. Not that my thoughts on the matter make a remotest bit of difference but I think that The Yorkshire Wildlife Park should step back from this deal and think for a moment. Is this conservation? Is it?
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I see what you are trying to say however, I believe that new facilities should keep these animals like these for experience (not just of keeping them but also of testing out the Lion enclosure) and making slight modifications over the years to make it ideal for a breeding group of either African or Asian in the future.
 
I can see what you mean in some sense too, but I don't agree. We can't say that EVERY lion there would be better off euthanased than bought over here. Some may well be, but we don 't know if that's the case. And I also agree with Tuan, at least they're not taking on, say, hybrid tigers to get experience and breeding them whilst they're at it, which some zoos still do. In the long run I think that's worse, as their offspring will be taking up more valuable space that could be put to better use.
 
I wonder what the £150,000 will be spent on? presumably mostly on importation and quarantine. It is money that could be better spent towards conservation but I am not against this at all. I think its great the lions will get a second chance. I presume there are several small groups, will they be mixed or allowed access to the enclosure separately?
 
I have a lot of sympathy with Peter Dickinson's viewpoint .

In the last couple of years UK Safari Parks , and some zoos , have bred a lot of lion cubs . The Yorkshire Wildlife Park would have been an ideal home for some of these . I wonder how many surplus lions are humanely euthanased in the UK without any publicity .
 
Generally Zoo's tend to breed animals if there are enough space for them,
Linton Zoo have 2 groups of Lions and the youngest groups have just have cubs and so they are hoping to set up a small pride of about 5-6.
Africa Alive had a set of cubs a few years ago and have now had 2 cubs born in the last few months and they have enough room for a very decent group of lions.
Generally we are reaching peak limit with African Lions but with some zoos having elder individuals such as Newquay,Colchester,Woburn,Paradise in about 3/4 years new spaces will open up soon.
But with YWP creating the facilities for the Romanian Lions in the future it can hold the growing poplation of lions in the Uk,
Yes Lion cubs are great but not all zoos should breed them - Colchester are doing very well with Leoni and Subu,South Lakes are doing well with their group,Paradise with siblings Takana and Mana are good for visitors along with lots of other zoos.
So generally the Zoos and Safari Parks breeding have the space to keep them.
 
In an ideal world what should happen here is that EAZA, BIAZA, WAZA and other such organisations should pool resources enabling a better facilities to be built in Romania somewhere, reducing the cost significantly whilst still giving the lions much needed health care and a better quality of life, and the keepers in Romania the support of a wealth of knowledge from a variety of zoos, with trained zoo keepers providing training insitu and at their 'home' zoos etc.

However I am not surprised by the news story, what does surprise me is that its not BFF and some z listers wanting them to be sent to south africa where they can 'feel at home'

This is not a unique story there will be others in far far worse enclosures through out the eastern bloc and beyond, and while I agree with what Peter has written, should this move happen they will be the lucky ones, so what happens to the rest?

* this is on the YWP blog
"The move from Romania (most likely by road in convoy) with lions and the other animals coming to the UK and primates to the Welsh Monkey Rescue Centre) will undoubtedly cause quite a stir not just in Doncaster but in the UK"

The words frying pan and fire rapidly spring to mind!!!!!!
 
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