Scar and Grumpy, lions rescued from Somali chaos
Their names are 'Scar' and 'Grumpy', and they are two irresistible lion cubs rescued from a trafficker at Mogadishu port - having become the mascots of the Somali capital's airport where they have found a temporary home. The four-month-old lions now live in an enclosure at the end of Mogadishu international airport's tarmac and have become a rare cheerful attraction in the war-ravaged city.
They were discovered by Somali government soldiers in December, their back legs tied together and generally in bad shape, on a merchant ship which was about to smuggle them to an Arab country to be sold. The port authority rescued the two cats and handed them over to a foreign logistics company based within the airport compound, one of the few relatively secure areas in Mogadishu and home to the African Union force's main base.
The sparkling Indian Ocean, the wreckage of a military cargo plane and barb wire horizon provide an unusual landscape for the king of animals but Scar and Grumpy spend their days like most lion cubs do: sleeping, playing and eating. Fortunately, they have found (in a South African, already in charge of a group of sniffer dogs on the airport compound) a natural animal-loving handler.
"Unfortunately, it's not the first time that we hear about lions. Some of the foreigners working here have been offered lions to buy," the man said, speaking to an AFP reporter on condition of anonymity. At only four months, Scar and Grumpy look like big cuddly cats but are already too powerful for humans to play with and have to be fed an entire goat every three days. "I would rather see them running around in a big game reserve where they could hunt than living in a zoo for 25 years," the handler said.
No comments:
Post a Comment