BIG CAT SANCTUARY - UKRAINE LION RESCUE
Lion Rescue Centre
The Big Cat Sanctuary’s “Big Cats in Crisis” campaign aims to provide a forever home for five African lions currently housed at Wildlife Animal Rescue (WAR) in Kyiv, Ukraine. There are four lionesses named Vanda, Amani, Lira and Yuna and one male lion called Rori who the Sanctuary looks to bring to their site in Smarden, Kent.
The Project’s Mission:
Transport the lions out of war-torn Ukraine and safely to holding facilities in the EU.
Transport the lions from the holding facility in the EU to the UK.
Build them a brand new rescue centre at The Big Cat Sanctuary, where the lions will live.
Welcome the lions to Sanctuary and into their new forever home.
Project Lion has been underway for several months, aiming to enhance the living conditions for our current pride and accommodate additional lions. The urgent appeal to rescue five lions from Ukraine has accelerated our efforts, to build additional new indoor and outdoor rescue facilities.
Client
The Big Cat Sanctuary
Location
Ashford, UK
Year
2024
Dearadh Zu’s Role
Concept Design supporting the zoo’s in house Creative designer
Stakeholder Engagement & Workshops
Landscape & Exhibit Design
3D model / CGI Visualisations
PROJECT FEATURES
The project includes three outdoor spaces, the largest of which is the 2400m2 primary habitat. This habitat will provide the lions with a large grassland area, broken up with several large mounds, groups of stacked boulders, large logs, scratch posts, and tree trunks to allow the animals to interact with the landscape and promote natural behaviours. The landscape already includes a mix of trees and scrub planting, which will be retained and enhanced. In addition, several new large trees will be planted to provide animals with shading and resting space. Other plantings, such as tall ornamental grasses, evergreen shrubs, and thorny scrub, will be included to provide opportunities for olfaction and break up sight lines so that these animals can get away from each other if they wish to.
The two other external habitats of 1275m2 and 750m2 will also include a range of landscape enrichment throughout, such as a shallow pool, timber platforms, scratch posts, faux rockwork dens and varied substrates such as sand and mulch. In addition to soft landscaping trees planting and mounding throughout. The total external area for these lions will exceed 4400m2 and provide ample space for managing these species in their forever home.
The lion house being constructed is approx 230m2 and will include several off-show dens, keeper areas, animal chutes for managing husbandry and veterinary procedures, and two on-show dens where visitors can see the animals from beneath covered canopies,
Jonathan McLoughlin, Director, Dearadh Zú
“The designs of these outdoor habitats will enhance animal welfare through wellness and activity-based design principles. Each habitat has been crafted to allow the lions to exhibit natural behaviours by providing opportunities and choices within the landscape, with features such as external climbing platforms, dens, water bodies, boulders, logs, and planting.”
