Minnesota sanctuary could be forever home for lions rescued from Ukraine
SANDSTONE, Minn. -– The Minnesota Wildcat Sanctuary could soon be home to four lion cubs rescued from Ukraine.
The 40-acre sanctuary based just more than 90 minutes north of the Twin Cities is home to more than 100 rescued lions, tigers and more. The campus isn't open to the public – rather, the organization operates as a non-profit strictly aimed to give the animals a home.
The mission to rescue the four-month-old cubs started more than a month ago. After more than 36 hours of travel, they've been safely transported to a zoo in Poland where they await their next steps.
"Three (of the four) cubs were actually bred for the cub petting trade or the pet trade over there, so not a reputable facility," Tammy Thies, Founder and Executive Director of the Wildcat Sanctuary, said. "They were surrendered in a duffle bag at just weeks old."
Thies says shortly after, the International Fund for Animal Welfare contacted her MN-based organization. In the past, Thies says the IFAW has worked to rehome animals from Tiger King Park in Oklahoma to her sanctuary.
Getting the animals overseas during a war, however, has proven to be more challenging.
"When you take a step forward, you'll get three steps back," she said. "Now that we're dealing with war-stricken Ukraine, we can make sure that the process is even harder."
Thies says to get the animals to the United States, they have to clear customs – while organizations work to secure the proper permits and applications.
"I can't believe that when [Ukrainian's] communities are crumbling, when they don't have power, they don't have phones or anything, that they're still dedicated to getting these animals to safety when they're going through so much," Thies said. "Four lion cubs might seem really small in the scale of the war, but the amount of network that we've put together to help more animals and people that can support each other is amazing. For those four cubs, this is a whole new world and new life they're going to have. And that means the world."
Thies says if all works well, her hope is to have the cubs to the United States within the next few months.