Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

ANIMAL RIGHTS

Half-starved lion cub abandoned in Paris flat finds new home

An emaciated lion cub rescued from a gritty Paris suburb has found a new home in an altogether more appropriate location.

Published: 22 August 2018 17:03 CEST
Half-starved lion cub abandoned in Paris flat finds new home
The lion cub was found in an apartment in a suburb of Paris. Photo: Pompiers de Paris/Facebook
It's a long way from the neighbourhood of Noisy-le-Sec in the eastern suburbs of the French capital where King the lion cub was first spotted. His new home is in fact an animal reserve in South Africa. 
 
King was located at an empty apartment after being abandoned by a man who, according to investigators, hired the creature to show off.
 
“Today a year old, King spends happy days in a 25,000 hectare reserve in South Africa,” announced the Pompiers de Paris firefighters on Wednesday.
 
 



 





Police began hunting for the cub after noticing selfies on social media of the 24-year-old owner posing with his pet. 



 





On arriving at an apartment in the northeastern Noisy-le-Sec suburb, the fire service found the abandoned cub “wasting away”.



   



After being captured with a lasso, during the rescue in October, the startled lion was placed in the care of an animal rights group.





 



The cub however remains “traumatized by his misadventure”, according to the foundation now looking after him. 



 



But the good news is he receives daily care and is being helped to slowly acclimatize to his new natural environment.



 



The Pompiers de Paris warned that wild animals are neither domestic animals nor toys.



 



 


































Member comments






Log in here to leave a comment.


Become a Member to leave a comment.



























ANIMAL CRUELTY


‘Gratuitous cruelty’: Spain probes suspected abuse at animal testing lab


Spanish police and prosecutors said Monday they were investigating an animal testing lab after undercover footage showed staff there tossing around, smacking and taunting dogs, pigs and other animals.
















Published: 12 April 2021 20:50 CEST 







'Gratuitous cruelty': Spain probes suspected abuse at animal testing lab

Handout: Cruelty Free International










“We were dismayed to see the images,” the head of the government’s directorate-general for animal protection, Sergio Garcia Torres, told AFP.


“It is a blatant case of animal abuse.”


Footage published Thursday by Cruelty Free International shows appears to show animals at the Vivotecnia animal testing facility being cut into apparently without having received anaesthetics.


Staff were also filmed swinging dogs and rats around and in one clip someone is drawing a face on a monkey’s genitals as the animal is pinned to a table.














The group said the footage was taken by a whistleblower who worked at the facility, which is on the outskirts of Madrid, between 2018 and 2020.


“There can be no doubt that such gratuitous cruelty causes unnecessary distress and suffering,” the animal rights group said in a statement.


“It is also unlawful.”


Police and public prosecutors said Monday they had opened separate investigations into Vivotecnia, which carries out experiments on animals for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries.




The company’s phone number was no longer working on Monday and its web site was down for maintenance.


In a statement cited by Spanish media, Vivotecnia chief executive Andres Konig said he was “shocked” at the images. But, he added, they did not “demonstrate the day-to-day reality at Vivotecnia”.


Following the outcry caused by the release of the footage, the Madrid regional government on Sunday temporarily halted activity at the animal testing facility.


Animal rights political party PACMA has filed a lawsuit against the managers of the company and urged the government to step up its supervision of animal testing.


“It’s a very opaque world and it could be that this is happening regularly without us knowing,” PACMA president Laura Duarte told AFP.


The Vivotecnia laboratory animals were examined by veterinarians and are being moved to other facilities.


























SHOW COMMENTS