Nelson and Ciam start their journey to Africa, helped by Virginia McKenna OBE, Jim Moir and Nancy Sorrell (c) BFF Paul Nicholls Photography
Nelson And Ciam Are On Their Way Home
9 years ago 
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- Born Free Celebrity Patrons Jim Moir (Vic Reeves) and Nancy Sorrell help prepare the lions for their 10,000 km journey
- Born Free Co-Founder, Virginia McKenna OBE, travelling with Nelson and Ciam to South Africa
International wildlife charity, Born Free Foundation, is delighted to announce that lions Nelson and Ciam are starting a journey of more than 10,000 kms to begin new lives in their ancestral home of Africa.
Born Free is providing a lifetime home for Nelson, a 17-year-old former zoo lion who was rescued from a French zoo when it fell into liquidation and the owner was arrested for wildlife trafficking; and Ciam, a two-and-a-half-year old lion who was bought as a cub from a circus, and then kept illegally as a ‘pet’ in southern France. Both lions are going to Born Free’s two rescue centres at Shamwari Game Reserve, South Africa, following a successful appeal launched last month.
The lions commence their journey today from their temporary home at Natuurhulpcentrum rescue centre (NHC) in Belgium. Born Free Celebrity Patrons, comedian Jim Moir (Vic Reeves) and his wife – model and actress Nancy Sorrell - will join the Born Free team to help carefully prepare the lions for their journey.
They said: “We are really looking forward to joining the Born Free team at Natuurhulpcentrum and to help Nelson and Ciam on the first leg of their journey to Africa - where lions belong! It is shocking that big cats like Ciam are still being kept as ‘exotic pets’ in totally unnatural surroundings, and that captive lions like Nelson still languish in substandard zoos. Having visited Shamwari Game Reserve with Born Free three years ago and seen the expert care Nelson and Ciam will receive first-hand, we know they will be very happy in their new homes.”
Born Free Co-Founder and actress, Virginia McKenna OBE, is travelling with Nelson and Ciam to South Africa.
She said: “Taking animals to Shamwari Game Reserve is always joyous. The pitiful and bleak environments Nelson and Ciam have endured will now be replaced by the open, natural, spacious and beautiful areas that will be their future home. How lucky we are that we can take them there, to be cared for with respect and affection, and how grateful we are to everyone who made it possible.”
From NHC, the lions will travel by road to Frankfurt airport, Germany, where they will be safely loaded onto a flight to Johannesburg. Touching down in Johannesburg, they will then fly on a charter plane to Port Elizabeth. From there, they will travel by road to their new lifetime home at Born Free’s Jean Byrd and Julie Ward rescue centres at the award-winning Shamwari Game Reserve, where they will be released into spacious, safe and enriching natural accommodation, surrounded by the sights and sounds of Africa. Their presence will be all the more poignant as 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the arrival of the first lions rescued by Born Free at Shamwari Game Reserve.
The heart-breaking backgrounds of Nelson and Ciam highlight the plight of millions of captive wild animals around the world – kept in zoos, circuses or as exotic pets. Campaigning to prevent captive animal suffering and to phase out zoos has been at the heart of Born Free since its formation in 1984. This year, Born Free has ‘gone back to its roots’, with a focus on challenging the exploitation of wild animals in captivity and the multi-billion pound global zoo industry through its Beyond the Bars campaign.
More from Born Free Foundation
- Born Free launches Wildlife Heroes
- Born Free launches appeal to rehome King the lion cub to South African sanctuary
- New report highlights South African governments role in the bloody, commercial lion body part trade
- Born Free reacts to Channel 4 documentary Britains Polar Bear Cub
- Trouble at the Zoo Born Free calls for overhaul of UK zoo licensing and inspections
