Mufasa was a mountain lion chained at the back of a circus pickup truck for 20 years.
This was never an ideal place for a mountain lion to grow up.
He was caged among piles of circus paraphernalia that were filled with rust.
You can see the adverse effects of his captivity on his body; he is shorter and thinner than most of his kind.
His eyes also speak about how lonely and devastating his life was.
Wild animals are banned from circuses in Peru, and Mufasa’s captors obviously violated those laws.
They got away with this as they chained the poor animal to the back of their truck, moving from village to village to continue with their circus show.
This continued for 20 years until the local wildlife officials raided the circus.
Animal Defenders International (ADI) was there to set Mufasa free during the operation.
The organization said they received a tip from an individual about the circus holding a wild animal as a captive for their show.
They gave the current location of the traveling circus in an isolated village in northern Peru, and the ADI and law enforcement went to the area immediately.
It took an eight-hour stand-off between the circus and the officials to free the mountain lion.
They took him away from that truck (along with a surrendered condor) and saved what was believed to be the last wild animal to ever be in a circus in South America.
ADI captured the touching moment when they freed Mufasa from his chains.
They cut off his bindings, and he was surprised to feel free – at least from the binding he was in – and looked around.
He stood up, stretched, and walked around the cage that would transport him to a Peruvian forest for his well-deserved retirement.
It was a long road – hours of land travel no matter the weather – but it was all worth it.
The moment they opened his cage door to his new home, you could sense that Mufasa wasn’t familiar with his surroundings – in a good way.
“It is magical to see him moving about in and out of the trees in his own piece of protected forest,” Jan Creamer, president of Animal Defenders International, told Inside Edition.
The ADI President also asked people to donate to help Mufasa’s needs.
“Mufasa was torn from the wild and has endured the worst possible life and will need special care, so I hope people will help us give him a wonderful retirement by making a donation today,” Creamer added.
Unfortunately, Mufasa passed away a few months after he was rescued.
His medical checkups showed that he suffered from kidney failure and other age-related conditions because of his living situation in the circus.
It may be sad that he didn’t enjoy his freedom that much, but ADI shared that it’s much better than not having experienced liberty at all.
That’s a brighter way to put it, and I hope Mufasa enjoyed that short but sweet time in the forest.
Watch Mufasa’s rescue in the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
