Finally all the necessary permits and arrangements for Bombi's arrival have been finalised. The little lion cub whose grandparents were captured in Tanzania many years ago are due to return to Africa to start a new life that will see him take up his rightful place in nature.

Bombi was born in the Budapest zoo, but unfortunately his siblings died soon after birth and Bombi had to be removed from his mother to be hand raised. The zoo realised that the little cub faced a grim future in Europe, as there are not too many zoos nowadays that need lions. Globally there are also problems facing lions and many surplus lions from zoos have ended up in the most appalling conditions. The future of lions in second-rate zoos and circuses is pretty bleak.

Fortunately the zoo director gave the green light to try and find a suitable destination for the young lion cub where he could possibly be returned to the wild.

SanWild was contacted initially by Liesl Mortimer (Wildlife Action Group) to find out if we could accept the lion cub and return him to the wild. There are some very special people in Hungary who were instrumental to return Bombi to Africa. I would like to thank Gabriella Kiss, Zoltan Istavan and Endre Sos as well as KLM who will be flying Bombi back to Africa.

We will keep you posted on his arrival.