Lions who were both born into captivity have found happiness together after their rescuers decided to introduce them to one another.
King of the jungle Luke and lioness Phuku defied the odds to form a strong bond at Love Lions Alive sanctuary in Free State, South Africa, after meeting earlier this year.
The pair were introduced despite Luke spending the first five years of his life in a 5ft by 5ft box and barely socialising with other lions at a particularly cruel circus in the Ukraine.
Phuku was born into captivity in a petting zoo. She was weaker than the other lions and suffered from a hip condition common in captive breeding. Despite being with other lions, she was often attacked by older males and was cautious when she first met Luke.
But Line Rise and Andi Rive, who run the sanctuary and care for 24 big cats all rescued from captivity, say the pair were soon headbutting and grooming each other just like domestic cats.
King of the jungle Luke (left) and lioness Phuku defied the odds to form a strong bond at Love Lions Alive sanctuary in Free State, South Africa, after meeting earlier this yearAndi said Phuku was so weak physically when she came to the sanctuary she couldn’t run, jump or even grab food with her paws properly.
She said: ‘We didn’t think we were ever going to put Phuku with another lion because they would hurt her because she was so physically compromised.
‘We had Luke come along and he wasn’t able to move all that well either, because he had lived in a box all these years.
‘And we were watching them and thinking maybe this is Phuku’s only chance, in that here is another lion who also isn’t physically capable.
‘But Phuku’s movement was already changing substantially, she can run now which she couldn’t do at all before. And Luke too was getting stronger.
The pair were introduced despite Luke spending the first five years of his life in a 1.5m by 1.5m box and barely socialising with other lions at a particularly cruel circus in the Ukraine
Line Rise and Andi Rive, who run the sanctuary and care for 24 big cats all rescued from captivity, say the pair were soon headbutting and grooming each other just like domestic cats
Andi Rive (left) and Line Rise from Love Lions Alive sanctuary
Andi, who runs the sanctuary entirely on donations, said there was one window of opportunity to introduce the pair after they started communicating through the fence that separated their enclosures. She realised they could still do a lot of damage to each other, and Phuku was defensive at first, but they were ‘lucky’ and the lions became close
Lionel de Lange and his partner Anya Masyach (pictured), from Warriors of Wildlife, rescued Luke in Ukraine. So far, the couple have taken 13 captive lions from the eastern bloc state back to sanctuaries in Africa. Lionel said Luke and Phuku’s bond was particularly amazing because Luke had always been alone
Phuku (right) was so weak physically when she came to the sanctuary she couldn’t run, jump or even grab food with her paws properly. Luke was also quite weak when he arrived since he had only been in a small cage before
After some ‘flirting’ through the fences of their huge enclosures, rescuers realised Luke and Phuku might have found a happy ending together. As these heart-warming photographs show, Phuku, aged five, and six-year-old Luke found love against all the odds
Despite the positive signs putting them in the same space was still incredibly risky, with each capable of killing the other if things went wrong. The pair now share a close bond and even bicker like domestic cats and human couples