Massive Rescue Underway as 30 Big Cats Leave Shuttered Argentine Zoo for Sanctuaries

A landmark rescue operation commenced Friday at the former Luján Zoo near Buenos Aires as 30 lions and tigers began their journey to wildlife sanctuaries across two continents. The animals, which spent years confined in cramped concrete enclosures at the facility 70 kilometers northwest of Argentina’s capital, are being transported by Four Paws, an international animal-welfare organization coordinating what it describes as one of the largest relocations of captive big cats globally.

Nine tigers and six lions are headed to Lionsrock, a Four Paws sanctuary in South Africa housing more than 80 big cats across 60 hectares of natural habitat. The remaining eight tigers and seven lions will travel to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado, a sprawling refuge on grasslands northeast of Denver where rescued felines roam expansive terrain. The journeys require complex logistics: Colorado-bound animals will transit through Chile, while those heading to South Africa will pass through Frankfurt or Amsterdam before a four-hour drive to their final destination.

Four Paws handlers trained numerous animals to voluntarily enter transport crates, though some required sedation and manual assistance. Two tigers needed to be hoisted in canvas slings and carried by hand Friday, underscoring the physical deterioration of some residents. The Luján Zoo, which closed in 2020 following safety and welfare violations connected to its practice of allowing visitor contact with big cats, housed approximately 200 large animals when it shut down.

The number of surviving residents has declined significantly during the rescue planning process. When Four Paws first assessed the facility in 2023, 112 big cats remained; by the time the organization took operational control two years later, that figure had dropped to 62. Many animals suffer from obesity, muscle wasting, malnutrition, dental disease, kidney complications, and injuries from declawing that never healed properly, conditions Four Paws attributes to severe overcrowding.

Four Paws has retrained longtime zoo staff in contemporary animal-care standards and enhanced the felines’ diets and medical treatment since assuming management. More than 20 lions and tigers will remain at Luján while the organization continues identifying long-term placements for them. Program director Luciana D’Abramo emphasized the significance of the effort: “We are putting everything into making this go as smoothly as possible so we can celebrate that 30 lives have improved because of this effort.”