Jogger finds lion cub caged & abandoned in Dutch field (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
A jogger was enjoying their early morning exercise on the outskirts of Utrecht in the Netherlands Sunday when they happened upon an extremely cute, but highly unusual guest in the area: a four-month old lion cub in a cage.
“I have travelled all over the world to stun animals, even lions and tigers, but I’ve never experienced anything like this,” local vet and anaesthesiologist Peter Klaver told RTL Nieuws.
Klaver added that the cub could have easily escaped the cage as it was not designed to hold the king of the jungle, however young he may be. He didn't need to tranquillize the animal, however, and was able to load cub and cage into his car.
Tienhoven police have asked for the public's help in tracing where the cub came from and are seeking information on anyone who may have bought a lion cub, legally or otherwise. The cub is now in the care of the Netherlands' Lion Foundation.
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“The chances are that he will stay with us, only we actually bring all our lions to Africa for a life in the semi-wild, we have now taken seven and this year there will be three again, so perhaps he will live on the savannah in the future. I think you feel like a lion there,” director Robert Kruijff of the Lion Foundation told RTV Utrecht.
While the local vet had never come across such an bizarre case before, Kruijff explained that, for the foundation, it was not unusual.
“We regularly encounter strange situations, like a mafia boss in the eastern bloc who had a big lion in front of his house, he died in prison, so we got a phone call from his wife to pick up the animal,” he said.
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