Shocking Pictures of Emaciated Lions in Sudan Park Spark Campaign to Save the Animals

Recently on the internet, five malnourished lions and sick lions were held at a park in Sudan’s capital and soon they resorted to helping them.

When Osman Salih, a self-described Sudanese “IT professional, entrepreneur, traveler, athlete, and family man,” began posting pictures and videos on social media of emaciated, starving African lions held in Khartoum’s Al-Qureshi Park, an upscale district of the capital, they attracted major media attention worldwide.

According to Al Qureshi Park, for weeks the lions have been suffering from lack of food and medicine. ‘I was terrified when I saw these lions in the park. Their bones are bulging out from their skin.’ Osman Salih, who published an online campaign on Facebook under the hashtag #Sudananimalrescue.

5 lions are held in cages at Khartoum’s Al-Qureshi Park, an upscale district of the capital

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

Osman said, ‘I plead with all interested people and institutions to assist them.’

However, the park officials revealed the lion’s present condition worsened over the past few weeks, adding that some lost about two-thirds of their actual body weight.

This has directly affected the care of the lions. The manager at Al Qureshi Park, Essamelddine Hajjar told AFP: “Food is not always available so often we buy it from our own money to feed them.”

Funded in part by private donors, the park is officially managed by the Khartoum municipal. On the other hand, Sudan is currently in the midst of a dwindling economic crisis as a result of soaring prices, because of uprisings against the authoritarian government of President Omar Al-Bashir in 2018–2019, which led to his overthrow in April 2019.

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

The park officials revealed the lions’ present condition worsened over the past few weeks, adding that some lost about two-thirds of their actual body weight

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

Many Journalists, Volunteers, and a Crowd of people visited the park to see them after went viral on social media. One among the five lions was attached with rope and was fed water through a drip. Also, a large chunk of rotten meat covered in flies was spotted scattered around the cages.

Salih said; “Just hang with us about the donations. Once we have a secure channel for donations, we’ll share it with you.” adding, “We’d just like to commend everybody locally and internationally for their immediate response, and we hope to save the lions at this park and other parks around Sudan that may have the same problem as this park.”

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

(©Getty Images | ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP)

Some animal rights advocates propose that Salih and other interested get in contact with Four Paws International, an NGO that helps animals in captivity, and Salih filed paperwork for the organization to send a rescue team to help provide better living conditions for the sick lions.