Agence France-Presse
Three lions in Sudan have been shot dead after they tried to escape from their cage inside a base of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, an official at an animal shelter said Thursday.
The three lions, who bear the names of Leo, Renas and Amani, were born two years ago in a reserve in the south of the capital, Khartoum.
which is the Sudan Center for Wildlife Rescue, according to Moataz Kamal, one of its activists.
The lions, which are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as “vulnerable” species.
were sold and transferred to a private farm belonging to the Rapid Support Forces located in Omdurman, in the northwestern suburb of Khartoum.
“Last night, we received a call from an RSF officer that the three lions had escaped from their cage,
We immediately prepared our team, equipment and plans to capture or anesthetize.
the lions in a safe manner,” the center said in a statement.
“They called us (later) and told us that they had shot the three lions and not to come,” the statement added.
The Sudan Wildlife Rescue Center was established in 2021 after an online campaign.
to save sick and malnourished lions in a ramshackle park in Khartoum.
Since then, the volunteers have been facing the challenge of maintaining the proper functioning of the center.
especially since Sudan is facing an economic crisis that was exacerbated.
by the military coup that was led more than a year ago.
by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, Kamal indicated that the reserve still includes 18 lions.