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Yuna was rescued from an abandoned home in Kyiv after war broke out, having been kept in a 3x4m enclosure with a concrete floor.
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After Yuna was evacuated to the Wild Animals Rescue Center, shelling from a Russian missile attack left her with severe PTSD and unable to stand.
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It took months for Yuna to recover from her PTSD. She was overweight due to lack of movement and a poor diet. Yuna needed specialised care to recover.
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Yuna was the first lion to be rescued and brought to The Big Cat Sanctuary as part of the Big Cats in Crisis campaign.
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Having settled into her new den, Yuna's confidence increased, and she ventured out into her enclosure for the first time.
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Due to her long confinement in Ukraine, Yuna had never stepped on grass before, but she's begun to explore her new environment with curiosity and spirit.
Lioness Yuna is about three years old. She was found by military volunteers in February 2023. She’s been kept in a house, in inadequate conditions, together with a young male lion. It’s thought there were plans to use them for illegal breeding. The lions lived together in 3×4 metre enclosure with a bare concrete floor.
After Yuna was evacuated to Wild Animals Rescue in February 2023, a vet stated that she had wounds due to her long stay on a cold concrete floor. She was also overweight due to poor diet. She was in such bad health, she could not stand on her feet. It took some time before she was able to walk around the enclosure at Wild Animals Rescue, and even then, she was still traumatised. However, she was separated from the male lion and her weight subsequently decreased.
In January 2024, during a large-scale Russian missile attack, debris fell 300 metres from Yuna’s enclosure. This caused her to suffer a serious concussion (shellshock), which led to a complete loss of coordination. CCTV footage confirmed that it was not an ordinary injury, but acoustic trauma. Yuna would cower in a corner of her enclosure, growling and showing clear signs of severe stress.
Yuna will soon be available for adoption!
Donate nowFollowing weeks of planning and fundraising, Yuna – along with lion Rori – was evacuated from the Wild Animals Rescue Center in Kyiv. The team from Cross Border Animal Services collected the two lions on 14 August before embarking on a 1400-mile, 4-day journey across Europe.
Yuna arrived safely at The Big Cat Sanctuary in the early hours of Saturday 17th August after a 36 hour journey from Kyiv. She was quick to take to her new den from the crate she travelled in!
Donate nowYuna spent a week acclimating to her new surroundings in a private den, where the Sanctuary’s dedicated team focused on building her trust and confidence. Each day, keepers sat near her, speaking in soft, comforting tones and gradually allowing her to adjust to their presence. As the days passed, Yuna’s initial wariness began to fade, and she started to approach her caretakers willingly. This steady progress signalled a significant breakthrough in Yuna’s emotional recovery.
Having spent most of her life confined in unsuitable conditions, Yuna was initially cautious about going outside. She’d never felt grass beneath her paws before the first time she left her den to explore her new enclosure. But having taken those first tentative steps outside, Yuna began to reveal a playful and curious nature. She started to explore her environment and engage in natural behaviours like scratching trees and logs – activities that were impossible in her previous confined space. This playful behaviour reflects her increasing confidence and is crucial to help her rebuild the muscle strength and mobility she lost during her confinement in Ukraine.
Donate nowThese iconic animals have powerful bodies weighing between 265 to 420 pounds. Lion roars can be heard from 5 miles or 8km away. An adult lion’s coat is yellow-gold, while the juveniles have some light spots which generally disappear with age. Only male lions typically boast manes, the impressive fringe of long hair that encircles their head.
Lions are the only cats that live in groups, called prides—though there is one population of solitary lions. Prides are family units that may comprise anywhere from two to forty lions—including up to to three or four males, around a dozen females, and their young.
Lions can hunt the largest prey – buffalo, giraffe, and even juvenile elephants. However, they predominantly prey upon medium-sized wildlife, such as wildebeest, zebra, and impala.
The vast majority of lions live in sub-Saharan Africa. The current world population is estimated to be under than 20,000 – down from as many as 200,000 in 1900. Lions are threatened by the illegal trade in meat and other body parts, habitat loss, and conflict with humans due to the real or perceived threat that lions pose to livestock.