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Once-starving lions roar back to life in Sudan sanctuary
Kandaka the lioness was once sick and emaciated in a zoo in Sudan's capital, but thanks to wildlife enthusiasts she now thrives in a reserve watching her cubs grow.
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Male lions and female lionesses follow an animal keeper carrying food in a wheelbarrow from behind the fence of an enclosure at the Sudan Animal Rescue centre in al-Bageir, south of the capital Khartoum on February 28, 2022. (AFP/Ashraf Shazly)
K
andaka the lioness was once sick and emaciated in a rundown zoo in Sudan's capital, but thanks to wildlife enthusiasts she now thrives in a reserve watching her cubs grow.
She was among five lions suffering from starvation and disease with visibly protruding ribs and flaccid skin, held in grim cages with rusty bars in Khartoum's Al-Qurashi zoo.
Conditions worsened as Sudan's economic crisis deepened in the wake of months-long protests in 2019 that led to the toppling of former dictator Omar al-Bashir.
Of the five lions in the ramshackle zoo, two died.
The animals' plight shot to public attention two years ago after an online campaign prompted veterinarians, conservationists and animal enthusiasts the world over to rush to their aid.
Along with the two other surviving lions, Kandaka was moved to the Al-Bageir reserve.
"Their health has since improved greatly," said Othman Salih, who founded the reserve in January 2021.
