First day of Malawi Award winners trip – official opening of clinic & up close to Bella, the rescued lion
Just had the official opening of the veterinary clinic funded by the Foundation which was incredible. The Malawi Guardian press were here to witness this too and – after seeing the opening of the surgery – they came on the tour with the winners. One of the journalists is so impressed with the work that he’s decided to expand his article onto the Foundation and the relationshiup with Born Free Foundation. He’s agreed to do a story in the coming weeks on Bella’s (the rescued lion) life – fantastic awareness raising for the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre here in Malawi.
To give you a bit of background – Bella is a seven year old lioness, blind in one eye and with a cataract in the other, who was rescued by the Born Free Foundation from a decrepit zoo in Romania where she lived in terrible conditions. She also has mobility problems due to a poor diet. As a cub she had been used as a photographer’s prop in Black Sea resorts in Romania before being dumped at the zoo. Born Free Foundation have organised her rescue, her eyes have been operated on, and her general health has improved greatly, and she has settled in well to her home at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre in Malawi. The award winners have been speechless by what they’ve seen and are without question impressed with what they’ve seen at the wildlife centre. Dusk is just setting in now and the temperature is dropping rapidly so we are all on the way back to the sanctuary and to have dinner and an early night. So much more to see tomorrow.
Tomorrow we’re going back to dart and check the monkeys that haven’t been checked up for over 2 years so all the winners will be helping with this and helping set up ladders and pay equipment. And then in the afternoon, we’re off a local school to work with local kids and educate on animal safety and conservation. Early night for us all though – jet lag is kicking in. More tomorrow
