Out of the Dark and Into the Light

A few stories ago, we told you of a lioness who was found in a snare which was wrapped around her jaw cutting gaping wounds into her flesh into which a person could fit their hand. She was brought to Moholoholo Rehab Center with the aims of treating her – however there was not much hope for her at that initial stage.
 

But this lioness was a fighter, right from the very start. The way that she managed to hold on to her ebbing life while she was trapped in that snare for days was already proof of that. Her spirit to live along with medical treatment and constant care combined together to produce miraculous results.

Each time we darted her to treat her wounds we were amazed at the speed and extent to which they had healed. On the 26th November we darted her to check her over in the hopes of being able to finally move her from the quarantine where she had been housed during her recovery to an outside enclosure where she could really stretch her legs and feel the sunshine on her fur. On observation we were all awed at what we saw. What had been a deep and jagged slash from her mouth to below her ear was now a faint scar line. A gaping hole in the back of her neck where skin flapped away from flesh was now tightly sealed. It was short of a miracle.

After Brian proclaimed that he was more than happy with her improvement the students all jumped into action. Carefully she was moved onto the carrying mat and then the hard work began, the lioness (who is a rather large animal) had to be carried around to her new camp. Usually a short walk that no-one gives a second thought to became a long and difficult ‘trek’. Finally they reached their target and the lioness was placed in the feeding cage to sleep off the affects of the darting.
Now she is patrolling her new perimeters getting used to the smells and noises. Her next-door neighbours (Big Boy and Ditch – 2 resident lions) watch on warily as they tried to make sense of this new visitor.
We are trying desperately to find a new home for her where she can roam free once again, but this is a very difficult task in which we only hope that we can succeed. She can never be returned to her own pride as they would now view her as a stranger and would kill her. The best place for her would be a new game farm which wants to introduce lions. She could then be put together with a male in a neutral place where they could both begin their lives afresh.