Thirteen rescued lions arrive at new home in South Yorkshire

A pride of 13 lions rescued from a dilapidated Eastern European zoo touched down at a British airport yesterday on its way to a new life in chilly South Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster may be a long way from the Serengeti or the Masai Mara, but the organisers of yesterday's operation said the attraction will be a welcome relief from the conditions the big cats have endured in Romania.

And the flight crew who piloted the animals across Europe said South Yorkshire in February may even seem mildly tropical compared with the minus 20°C temperatures wintry Bucharest is experiencing at the moment.

The converted Jet2.com Boeing 737 carrying the lions touched down at Robin Hood Airport, near Doncaster, at lunchtime and the 13 well-packed animals were then carefully loaded on to a specialist £700,000 elephant-carrying lorry borrowed for the day from Woburn Safari Park.

Two men with shotguns stood by as the loading operation took place on the apron.

Looking on, Cheryl Williams, director of the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, said she was "very excited" by the arrival of the lions which was funded by more than 12,000 individual donations.

The lions - dubbed the Pride of Yorkshire - have been rescued from the concrete enclosures of the crumbling Oradea Zoo, in Romania.

The park claims the operation to transport the animals - aged from 15 months to Johnny Senior at 27 years old - is the world's biggest ever lion rescue.

It launched a £150,000 appeal last summer to bring the giant beasts from Romania, where conditions were so bad four adults were stuffed together in a 15-foot by 12-foot concrete cell.

The lions were packed into 13 separate crates for the two-hour trip and were then loaded one by one on to the lorry for the final two-mile leg of their journey.

A vet travelled on the flight but the lions are thought to be in a bad condition and will need specialist examination once they are safely in Doncaster.

They will live in a specially made big cat house and will eventually have the run of a nine-acre enclosure.

The staff at the zoo said donations to complete the work can still be made through www.lionrescue.co.uk.

Readers of the News of the World have already contributed £120,000 to fund yesterday's operation.