The shy lioness Elza was used as a pet in Romania for the first four years of her life and after that, she spend her days in a very small cage next to her other siblings. In autumn 2021 FOUR PAWS managed to rescue her and bring her to FELIDA Big Cat Sanctuary.

Elza was born in February 2015 and there were two other cubs in her litter: Elsa (with an s) and Marley. While Elza stayed in Romania, her siblings made the news in December 2015 when they were found in a parking lot in Germany. They were confiscated and brought to a sanctuary in Spain. The traces brought us back to Picior de Munte where Elza was used as a pet. 

On the 1st of October 2021, after long negotiations, preparations and a two-day journey, Elza arrived in her new home at FELIDA.

After the release it became clear that she is the most sensitive lion of all. In the first few days after the arrival she mainly stayed indoors, carefully exploring her new surroundings. In controlled baby steps we let her get used to the outdoor world. And soon, she became so much more comfortable! She starts building up some contact with her next door neighbor Bobby, who is over the moon with this beautiful lioness next to her. Elza is curious towards him yet also a bit suspicious. Luckily Bobby behaves like the perfect gentleman, and gives her the space when she needs it.
 

Since Elza is very sensitive and oriented on people, for now we focus on a treatment plan to build up her self-confidence which should benefit her mental health.

Furthermore, to analyse her physical health, our wildlife veterinarians from Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and Vetmeduni Vienna performed a general health check on her (as well as on the other Romanian lions), such as checking the kidneys, taking blood samples and a general body check. The biggest task for the team of vets was to remove her uterus via a laparoscopic surgery. Since Elza is constantly in heat but will not produce any offspring, this will cause her medical problems in the future. The uterus was already affected, but luckily successfully removed. Afterwards Elza could wake up in a warm bed of straw in her heated indoor enclosure and she has recovered well since.

Since Elza is very sensitive and oriented on people, for we focused her treatment plan to build up her self-confidence which should benefit her mental health. Because Elza had been used as a pet and then had to live in a small enclosure, she had developed many stereotypical behaviours such as excessive tail sucking which prevented hair growth and reacted restlessly to people by running and digging towards the fence.

The FELIDA team never gave up on her! We believed that, through intensive care and guidance, including trainings and close observations as well as small steps according to our tailor-made treatment plan, Elza could become a care free lioness again. After 3 years of intensive care, Elza has made an amazing transformation into a calm, confident lioness. She currently does not show any stereotypical behaviour and is confident in her surroundings.

In the beginning of this month it was finally time for Elza (and her younger brother Simba) to move into the brand-new enclosures. Through successful transport crate training, both lions stepped calmly into their new enclosures and immediately went into full exploration mode. We can see that Elza is loving the her brand new home. Her enclosures consist of a spacious indoor and outdoor enclosure with specially designed platforms that are connected with a suspension bridge, a zipline for enrichment and various natural elements (ponds, tree trunks, vegetation and rocks). She specially loves to lay on the highest platform where she can look out on her surroundings.