Lions find home at Yorkshire Park

11/02/2010

Thirteen lions are being moved into a state-of-the art enclosure in Doncaster following the largest ever rescue of the species, a park has said.
The lions - dubbed the Pride of Yorkshire - will settle in to the wide open spaces at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park after being kept in cramped areas at the neglected Oradea Zoo in Romania.
The animals, which are more commonly found in the Serengeti or the Masai Mara, will arrive on a flight at Robin Hood Airport before being taken to their new seven-acre surroundings.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park launched a £150,000 appeal last summer to bring the pride of lions - aged from 15 months to 27 years old - from eastern Europe, where conditions were so bad that four adults were stuffed together in a 15ft by 12ft concrete cell.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park animal director John Minion said: "After so much planning and hard work it will be wonderful to have them back in the UK.
"Another £25,000 still desperately needs to be raised to fully equip the lion's enclosure."
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