In October 2011 Hello Scotland became the proud adopted parents of two wonderful lionesses at the Born Free Foundation in South Africa - thanks to our friends at Cameron House. Through this amazing gift we're able to help fund the cost of food and care for these rescued lionesses.
Here are their stories...
Achee
Achee was born in 1999 and used to live in the forecourt of the Cypriot Consulate at Bucharest. She was just a few days old when she was taken from her mother to be used for 'cute' photographs with tourists. The Cypriot Consul took pity on the tiny cub and bought her from the photographer when she was only 6 weeks old. Thinking the cub was male, he named her Achilles after the Greek God.
Although Achee was kept in a small compound in Romania, surrounded by concrete and having to cope with freezing winters, she was a much-loved lion. But it is extremely hard to care for a wild animal and her diet was deficient in important minerals. Because of this she suffered problems - her head twitched from side to side; her legs and back were out of proportion to her body and her gait was strange.
Despite this, Achee was a mischievous young lion, and enjoyed rough and tumble games with her handler, but in future years it was likely she would suffer painful arthritis. Born Free knew she needed to be away from the long, cold winters of Romania and kept in more natural surroundings.
Ma Juah
Ma Juah (which means mother) was born in 1996 and lived alone in a compound in Monrovia, surrounded by concrete and only able to see the sky. She and her brother were kept as pets by Charles Taylor, Liberia's ex-President. The former dictator, now wanted by Interpol, left the country in 2003 and callously abandoned the two lions. the pair went without food for 24 days and Ma Juah's brother starved to death. Her plight was discovered by kind aid workers who did their best to feed her whilst contacting Born Free.
Like Achee, Ma Juah has neural and skeletal problems, this time due to her impoverished early diet.
Their New Home
Born Free was determined to rescue both the lionesses and give them a spacious new home and loving care. In 2004 in July and September, Born Free brough first Ma Juah and then Achee to a new life in Shamwari Wildlife Reserve, South Africa.
Here in their large bush enclousure - the size of a football pitch, the girls enjoy life in their 'ancestral home'. They have become friends and both grown much stronger, though their disabilities mean they will always 'wobble'. Sadly, they would never survive on their own in the wild, but at Shamwari, they enjoy the next closest thing to freedom, surrounded by wild Africa.