Lioness Takes One Look At Rescued Cub And Decides To Stay With Him Forever

Masrya is a lioness who used to spend all of her time locked up in an unimaginably small age. Now she’s treated like royalty at the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in South Africa, where she currently lives with her recently adopted son, Nero.

Image Credit: Shelley Mattocks

Masrya was a pet in Egypt when she was just a cub.

Image Credit: Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary

She was declawed and sold by a street trader, but as she grew larger it again became unsafe to allow her to roam free.

Image Credit: Shelley Mattocks

That’s how Masrya came to be locked up in such a tiny cage. She was kept outside so she could be on display for passerby on the street.

Image Credit: Shelley Mattocks

She was two years old at the time, and she was hardly able to move.

Then, in July of 2012 a German woman saw her trapped in that cage, and the woman got into contact with Occupy For Animals.

Image Credit: Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary

Occupy started to gather the funds that would be necessary not only to set Masrya free, but also to get her to a place where she could live safely.

Image Credit: Spots & Stripes Conservation

They did just that.

Image Credit: Dynamic Big Cat’s

When Masrya arrived at her sanctuary, she met the four month old cub Nero.

Image Credit: Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary

The two fell in love instantly. Nero had been rescued from a French circus, and he was in desperate need of a mother figure.

Masrya couldn’t have been happier to fulfill that role.

Image Credit: Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary

While they were a sanctuary, they couldn’t stay there forever.

Image Credit: Stichting Leeuw

The two needed permanent homes. Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary stepped up to take on these two, along with their thirty-three other lions.

Image Credit: Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary

Now the two are incredibly happy and more free than ever before!

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