Lioness Vasylyna was found all alone, surviving the wreckages of war on Ukraine’s streets in the Kharkiv region. The young lioness had escaped from private keeping and found herself all alone, hungry and surrounded by war. Read more about her story here!

In January 2022 FOUR PAWS was contacted by the local authorities of Montenegro about a illegally kept lion cub that had escaped from private keeping and was roaming the streets near Budva on the Adriatic coast. After 10 days the starved and exhausted lion cub, who got the name Nikola, was rescued and brought to a temporary safe place. Read more about his journey here!

Tiger Tsezar was exploited in a private club in Ukraine and used for intensive breeding. Living among his own faeces, he was left to die. Luckily he could be rescued by local activists. Read more about his story here!

Lion Simba reached the news at the end of 2020 when he was used for pictures and a video clip by a Romanian artist. The material was shared on social media and since he was clearly injured, many people in Romania were shocked about it and this led to a public outburst. Luckily we could rescue him, his sister lioness Elza and five other siblings. Read more about their story here! 

Lion Bobby († 2024) was together with the lions Zhaku and Lenci, rescued from Safari Park Zoo Fier in Albania by FOUR PAWS. This zoo was known as “Europe’s worst zoo”. His battered nose is a sad reminder of his difficult life in Albania. Read more about his story here! 

Since FOUR PAWS has taken over the big cat centre in the Netherlands and named it FELIDA Big Cat Sanctuary, a total of 20 animals have been brought to LIONSROCK Big Cat Sanctuary, our sanctuary for rescued big cats in South Africa. Get to know the animals that made the journey from FELIDA to LIONSROCK. Discover here!