Odin & Mulan

ABOUT

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These two lions came in to LLA as tiny cubs. Mulan was just over 2 weeks old and Odin was 4 days old. The place they were rescued from is featured on Lord Ashcroft’s documentary of his book, “Unfair Game” showing a lioness, likely Odin & Mulan’s sister, being shot inside her enclosure.

Odin was so small he could snuggle up in a shoe. He was the runt of his litter and needed veterinary care to survive. So, Odin was tossed out, he was lying in a cardboard box waiting to die when a kind visitor to that park, begged for his life and asked that he be sent to LLA.

Breeders count on getting approximately 9 to 10 cubs per year from each of their breeding lionesses. That means if they have 10 lionesses they will ‘produce’ 100 cubs into their facility per year. At this rate, they do not value each and every life and they allow for ‘stock loss’ in their budgets. They do not waste money on veterinary treatment for tiny, weak runts.

At this same breeding facility, Mulan was taken from her mother at 2 weeks old. Having already become accustomed to drinking from her mother’s warm teat, she would not take to the bottle. Losing her mother, she lost the loving lick of her mother’s tongue which would have soothed her, cleaned her, and stimulated defecation. Whether due to possible depression or the inability of the human who took her to correctly stimulate her, she did not poo after leaving her mother, and as a result she became constipated.

On top of this, Mulan had a scar on her shoulders from ringworm or some other skin condition, this made her undesirable as a floor mat, which meant that the breeder would not be able to sell her skin when he processed her skeleton for the bone trade. Working through her constipation, which takes the person doing the stimulating, to be ripped by her claws, was not worth it for a damaged ‘product’.

Fate and timing meant that Odin and Mulan both ended up being brought to LLA on the 11 September 2016 where we immediately began treatment for their conditions. It was a time consuming, expensive battle. Our arms were shredded by their needle like claws. Our sleep was interrupted every hour. It was touch and go as to whether they would live, never mind turn out to be healthy.

Here we are in September 2020 setting up a fundraiser to build these two magnificent, huge, awesome cats a much-needed, bigger enclosure.

When they were younger, they used to walk out on the mountainside with us for their daily enrichment. Each one had their favourite rock from where they would stand and survey their kingdom. The landscape was their wonderland. They ran, they slept, they clambered and rambled, or they simply starred out at the world. Now we want to enclose that same piece of mountainside for them so that they can return to their rocks and live where they used to wonder.

Mulan had to go to Pretoria twice, once in July 2017 and again in July 2018 to receive medical treatment from Dr Peter Caldwell, but both lions are extraordinarily healthy now. They have lived in the same enclosure since they were small. We wanted them to be near to us so that we could easily observe them and treat them. They have one large rock to lie upon, which was fabulous when they were younger, but we have felt, for a year now, that they really need to move on to a larger, more wild enclosure. However, due to building enclosures for the Ukrainian rescues, we have been unable to afford to build this planned enclosure. So, they have had to patiently wait.

Now fate and timing have again intervened for Mulan and Odin.

We have been approached by Alive For Lions (organization) who have offered to match, Rand for Rand, the building of a new enclosure for Odin and Mulan.

Watch the accompanying video to see Odin and Mulan roaming the area when they were younger, this land

will now be enclosed for them as their own home.