Wildcat Sanctuary: What The Lion Cubs From Ukraine Are Doing Now

SANDSTONE, Minn. — The Wildcat Sanctuary rescued lion cubs from war-stricken Ukraine back in November after they were illegally trafficked. Fox21 checked in with them to see how they’ve been doing.

The 4 cubs were just 4 and 5 months old when they first got to the sanctuary in Sandstone and now are almost a year old. They’ve spent the past few months getting used to their new home, playing and eating together.

The founder says the journey to get the cubs was so worth it and she hopes they’ll remain as a pride for the rest of their lives.

“Their rescue was one in a million. It is something we will remember forever. You know having heard about them during the war in Ukraine, having being illegally trafficked. And then our journey to Poland to bring them back to the United States. That journey in itself was huge and now we have a 20-year journey here at the sanctuary where they get to grow up and be a pride together,” said Tammy Thies, Founder and Executive Director of the Wildcat Sanctuary.

The founder also says the best thing about seeing the cubs is how happy they are to be together.

“I will tell you the happiest thing about this pride is that they have each other. They are so happy, they don’t need anything from us even though we provide them food, nutrition, nutritious meals, enrichment, things like that. But they have everything they could want with the family unit they’ve created themselves,” said Thies.

If you’d like to donate to help the cubs, click here.