The back of an old, rusty, decrepit pickup truck is no place for any animal to live, let alone a fully grown adult mountain lion. Sadly, that’s precisely where a mountain lion named Mufasa was forced to live as a hostage of a traveling roadside circus in Peru.
While the details of Mufasa’s early life are unknown, it is believed that he was originally born free in the wild somewhere in South America. He was most likely kidnapped from his mother when he was still a little cub and sold into captivity shortly after that. Over the next 20 years, he was abused and kept bound in heavy metal chains while being forced to endure life on the road with the traveling circus.
For this big cat, life was anything but natural and comfortable. His captors brought him from town to town in the back of an old pickup truck, where he remained chained to some old rusty pieces of equipment. The animal barely had any room to move around and no bed or clean spot to lay on, just a dusty corner surrounded by dirt and metal bars. He had no shelter to overhead to protect him from the harsh elements, so the hot sun and pouring rain would beat down on him. This neglected animal’s state was beyond shocking.
The circus that held Mufasa was believed to be the very last of many in Peru which for years had been illegally exploiting wild animals in their shows. The country recently passed a circus animal ban in response to widespread cruelty, abuse, and sub-standard living conditions for the animals. The ban made it illegal to keep and use wild animals in circus shows. And since then authorities with the help of animal advocacy non-profits such as Animal Defenders International (ADI) have strictly enforced this new law.
One day the ADI group had gotten a tip that the circus was still holding a mountain lion, so they accompanied police and local wildlife officials to investigate. That’s when they discovered Mufasa chained in the back of an old pickup truck. What followed was a dangerous and long eight-hour standoff with his captors. But eventually, the circus surrendered Mufasa, and the video below captured every part of this emotional moment when the big cat was finally released from his chains.
The elderly mountain lion can be seen sitting patiently and quietly as he waited for officials to cut the harness off and finally free him from his nightmare. For the first time in over 20 years, the feline was able to stretch himself out fully.
Mufasa was transported to ADI’s Spirit of Freedom rescue center for rehabilitation. After a health check-up deemed him well enough to travel, Mufasa was taken on a three day trip to the Amazon rainforest where he would arrive at the Tambopata Reserve.
At the reserve, Mufasa is now free to wander his new habitat without ever having to wear chains again!
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