{"id":3535,"date":"2015-12-22T14:51:30","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T14:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/?p=3535"},"modified":"2015-12-22T14:51:30","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T14:51:30","slug":"mustafa-circus-mountain-lion-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/mustafa-circus-mountain-lion-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Circus’ Mountain Lion Chained His Entire Life Freed After Dramatic Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mustafa the mountain lion<\/a><\/strong> <\/em>spent the first twenty years of his life ‘working’ in a circus. He was chained up and forced to perform. Treated badly, underfed and not stimulated, it was no life at all. But he’s since been rescued and now lives in the\u00a0Taricaya Ecological Reserve<\/strong><\/em>, a special enclosure found\u00a0in the Amazon<\/a> Rainfores<\/em><\/strong>t.<\/p>\n

Animal Defenders International<\/strong> <\/em>(known as ‘The ADI’<\/strong><\/em>) decided to take action and help out the big\u00a0cat as part of what they’re calling ‘Operation Spirit of Freedom’<\/em>. It’s a unique mission to close down illegal circuses that abuse animals. The president<\/a> of Animal Defenders International, Jan Creamer<\/strong><\/em>, said this about the rescue: \u201cIt was heartbreaking to see Mufasa chained among the circus equipment, living on the back of a pickup truck.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The mountain lion was listless. He’d never known what it was like to walk around without heavy metal chains weighing him up. As he sat in the truck, he look defeated.\u00a0\u201cIt was like he wasn\u2019t even alive”<\/em>, says Creamer. But he’d been rescued. Things were about to get a whole lot better for Mr. Mustafa!<\/p>\n

\"Mountain<\/p>\n

There was an eight hour standoff with the people who ran the circus and things got pretty heated. But, eventually, The ADI managed to negotiate Mustafa’s release…<\/p>\n

\"Mountain<\/p>\n

Here’s a short film about the amazing rescue of Mustafa:<\/p>\n