Les actions phares
December 2022 - Rescue of a Ukrainian panther
This 6-month-old panther came from wildlife trafficking in Ukraine. She would have been left in a house at the end of summer, abandoned by her owner who fled the war and Russian bombings. The Russian invasion caused a jump in the number of abandonments of domestic animals, but also that of wild animals... Ukrainian shelters are thus entrusted with lions, leopards and primates formerly owned by individuals.
First taken in by a Kiev shelter, the panther, also accompanied by lion cubs also abandoned, was transferred to Poznan Zoo in Poland at the end of October.
This transfer was organized via the International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW , which financed the transport between Poznan Zoo in Poland and our structure.
May 2022 - Departure of Jon's 4 lionesses for a sanctuary in Italy
The lionesses arrived in Saint-Martin-la-Plaine a month after Jon, the bruised lion, in July 2020, in fairly poor health, including locomotion problems. The seizure for mistreatment was a first in France. The health examination revealed very damaged teeth. After years of living in a confined space, they were able to develop a little more muscle to move around. Their stay with us has greatly perked them up, without us being able to resolve their locomotion problems linked to deficiencies or malformations. Jon, the male who was in the same circus, sadly passed away in February and was unable to join the trip. The 4 lionesses now have a 4000m² enclosure, planted with trees and landscaped thanks to One Voice and Animanatura.
February 2022 - Departure of 4 lions to South Africa
The 4 animals, a sterilized male (without mane) and three lionesses aged 15 to 17 belonged to a French circus. The owner of the circus was also the trainer of these animals. Following an accident during a show, he decided to stop presenting wild animals. He therefore contacted our association Tonga Terre d'Accueil at the beginning of 2018 to find out if we could collect his 4 lions. The animals arrived with us in May 2018. Louga, Angela, Bellone and Saïda joined the 4 lion cubs sent in 2019, to the BornFree Foundation sanctuary, in the Shamwari reserve, in South Africa.
December 2020 - Welcome of 10 tigers
This is a unique event in terms of its importance and the deployment organized to carry out this operation. It is the result of 2 years of investigations by the One Voice association . Among these tigers, there are tigers and golden tigers. You should know that white tigers are not a species of tiger but a rare and originally natural genetic mutation. Golden tigers are also a genetic mutation, mainly widespread in circuses in the United States. Their lines only descend from a few individuals and, for their so-called recessive gene to be expressed, two carriers of this gene must be crossed. These animals are generally highly inbred and only have a rarity value to attract the public. All these animals therefore do not contribute to the conservation of the tiger. The owner's judgment took place in December 2022 in favor of our shelter and One Voice.
June 2020 - Welcome to Jon, a hungry lion
The images are difficult to bear: Jon is a 10 to 15 year old lion weighing 116kg, almost half what a lion his age must weigh. His coat is very damaged with many areas of hair loss. It is a bruised lion, it has numerous wounds on its body with old and recent marks, particularly on its tail which has several raw wounds, some of which are very deep. The condition of his teeth is very poor, several teeth are very damaged and he no longer has a fang. Jon no longer has any claws either. We remind you that declawing a feline (whether cat or lion) is prohibited by law. Despite a physical state that we have never before seen in an animal, Jon has a very gentle character, he shows no signs of aggressiveness and even seeks contact. It only took a few months for Jon to regain a decent weight. While we were finalizing a placement for him and his females who arrived 1 month later, Jon died in February 2022.
October 2019 - The 4 lion cubs sent to a sanctuary in South Africa
A little 3-week-old lioness was recovered from a garage in Marseille on October 25, 2018. Much too young to be taken from her mother, her physical condition is very worrying: ulcers on her eyes, swollen belly and thinning coat. The same day, a 2-month-old lion cub was seized from an apartment in the Paris suburbs. On November 14, 2018, a third lion cub was discovered in a luxury car on the Champs-Élysées. On January 14, 2019, a 2 to 3 month old lioness was entrusted to us in a very poor state of health. The four lion cubs were reunited a few weeks after their arrival. This allowed them to grow, socialize and have fun together. In October 2019, the lion cubs left our premises to go to South Africa. They joined a sanctuary of the NGO BornFree thanks to the support of the 30 Million Friends Foundation . They live today in a large protected area, far from the living conditions of their birth. They are fed and cared for by sanctuary staff.
July 2017 - Three tigers rescued from Lebanon
These young felines were taken care of in Lebanon in March 2017 by a Lebanese animal defense association, Animals Lebanon , after being discovered in an unsuitable wooden box at Beirut airport, very weakened and eaten away by worms. . They came from a Ukrainian zoo which had sold them to a Lebanese trafficker. For months, Animals Lebanon fought to obtain the agreement of the Lebanese government so that the former owner could relinquish the animals and to be able to transfer these tigers to France in our center. They also treated the tigers which were in a critical state of health. On the day of their departure for France, the tigers were escorted by the police and the army onto the plane in order to protect them from the trafficker who wanted to recover them. They arrived on July 11, 2017 in our sanctuary.
March 2010 - Ena, a circus lioness sent to Africa
At the beginning of 2010, a little 2-month-old lioness, called Ena, was seized by the authorities in a circus which held her in poor conditions: she was hidden in a wooden box at the bottom of a trailer. She was able to be saved thanks to the involvement of the Fondation Assistance Aux Animaux and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation . She arrived in Saint-Martin-la-Plaine very fearful. In June 2010, Ena took off for South Africa to join a sanctuary in the Drakenstein Lion Park, located in the southwest of the country, near Cape Town. She was introduced to a young male with whom she gets along very well.
