Animal welfare organization Stichting AAP has removed two severely emaciated tigers and a lioness from Portuguese circuses this week. The foundation found the animals in a terrible condition. The tigers lived with claws amputated in a circus wagon that was much too small.
As a real lifesaver, the AAP Foundation came at the right time this week to give the three wild animals a new future. The animals were in bad shape. They looked like they didn’t have long to live, according to the AAP website. For example, the two tigers (11 and 16 years old) have almost no muscles and amputated claws. The oldest tiger has a large tumor under his tongue and kidney problems. The animals spent their lives in a circus wagon. The lioness (19), on the other hand, is too fat due to a diet that is much too fatty. According to the owners, she was kept as a pet. The animals are now receiving intensive medical care.
Forbidden
From 2025, it will be prohibited in Portugal to exploit wild animals in circuses. That is why many circuses are currently looking at what to do with their animals. Until 2025 they can voluntarily donate their wild animals. They will be forced to do so when the law comes into force in three years’ time. In 2021, the Portuguese circuses still had 17 wild animals. In 2009, when the first ‘circus law’ stipulated that no new animals could be added, there were 170 in total.
Half-year rescue operation
The AAP Foundation is no stranger to Portugal. The Portuguese Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests ICNF knew the organization from previous contacts. That is why ICNF asked the Dutch foundation to collect the animals and arrange shelter for them. It took six months to organize the entire rescue operation, according to AAP. And this week it happened. Through a major logistical operation – including anesthesia – they transported the two tigers and the lioness to their new future. AAP calls it a milestone that an agreement could be reached with the Portuguese authorities to remove the suffering animals.
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The AAP Foundation previously brought three alligators, three boas and four pythons from Portugal. All animals have now been housed in AAP shelters in Spain and Germany. There they will have to get used to their new environment and caretakers. The story of these circus animals is not an isolated one. For example, the Dutch organization Wildlife Advocates Foundation also announced that it was working on a major international campaign to rescue four tigers from an abandoned train carriage. The four animals had been abandoned by a circus in northern Argentina.
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