On last Monday, 12 **abused lions** arrived in Villena (Alicante) from a circus in western **France**. There were nine cubs between three and five months old, a male lion of 18 years old, and two females of 10 and 12 years old.
After a 20-hour road trip, they are now resting and **recovering** at the facilities of the **AAP Primadomus organization**, a shelter specialized in the **rehabilitation of primates and** [big cats](https://noticiasambientales.com/animales/solo-queda-un-10-de-leones-africanos-debido-al-trafico-ilegal-perdida-de-habitats-y-actividad-humana/), seeking an **adequate home** for them.
The cubs were born this summer at the circus, even though **French legislation prohibits breeding**, **acquiring, or commercializing wild animals in these shows** since December 2023. Circuses with animals are still allowed in France until 2028, but in this case, the owners had stopped using them in their acts and **couldn’t take care of them**. There was a **high risk of the cubs being sold** to cover the maintenance costs of the other circus animals, as AAP Primadomus assures.
“**The abused lions** ended up here because there are no shelters of this kind in France, and we are a European organization committed to providing a **better future for animals**,” explains Berta Alzaga, communication manager.
The felines arrived in Villena very dirty, likely because **they had been kept in trailers at the circus for at least the last month**. “Because where they were, **they couldn’t be taken out, and cleaning that space** with them inside is complicated,” she adds.
The animals were very nervous upon arrival, especially the cubs, but **as soon as they reunited with their mothers, they calmed down**, describes Pablo Delgado, director of AAP Primadomus Spain and responsible for big cats.
Now is the time to let them **rest**, recover, and check their **health**. The cubs “seem quite thin, and we know they **didn’t receive veterinary attention at the circus**,” he adds. They also didn’t have the mandatory identifying microchip, which was placed for their **transfer**. They have ahead of them a quarantine of at least one month at the rescue center, so they won’t be able to go out to the larger facilities, around 4,000 square meters, until the deadline has passed.
“Unfortunately, we have no choice but to keep them like this until we **ensure that their health is good**, that they have no nutritional deficiencies, that they are free of parasites…,” he lists.
The rescue operation was carried out in collaboration with the French authorities —whose intention was to confiscate the animals— and Code Animal, a collaborating organization of AAP. It wasn’t easy. There was a first attempt in October, but it failed “due to the **lack of cooperation from the circus**, which caused a very tense situation.”
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After a month of negotiations, the owners **agreed to surrender the animals**, without the need for confiscation. When the veterinarians consider that they have been rehabilitated both physically and socially, they will look for a **permanent home** for them.
“It could be in an **animal sanctuary**, in reserves, or in accredited zoos, and if we don’t find one, they will stay with us,” Alzaga specifies.
AAP wants to draw attention to the “**devastating**” consequences of using wild animals as “performers in circuses.” According to a study by the foundation The Darkness behind the Spotlight, **89%** of exotic animals rescued from these shows have some **mental or physical sequelae**.
The organization works to improve **animal welfare laws** and calls for a **ban across Europe**. This would prevent “more animals from having to perform traveling between countries and suffering the same terrible fate that these cubs were destined for.” And it would avoid the current regulatory disparities between places where these practices have been banned and others where they haven’t.
In **Spain**, circuses with animals were **banned last year** following the approval of Law 07/2023 on the Protection of the Rights and Welfare of Animals. Even before that, municipalities, towns, and autonomous communities had gradually joined the ban on this form of “entertainment,” they point out. At the entry into force of the law, 12 Autonomous Communities had abolished this practice, and “**75% of Spaniards lived in circus-free territories**.”
Since December 1, the Grandes Felinos APP center in Alicante has welcomed twelve abused lions after rescuing them in record time. The rescue and **rehabilitation center for exotic mammals** took charge of saving the lives of twelve felines that had been exhibited to the public for years by a French circus company that kept them in deplorable conditions.
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