Circus Cat Living In Car Freed From Life In Chains

[CountAllVotes]

A sad, emaciated puma who spent his life chained to the open back of a car — the only home he'd ever known — is finally free.

"He lived the whole of his life wearing a harness and strapped to the back of a station wagon," Jan Creamer, president of Animal Defenders International (ADI), told The Dodo. "He shared the back of the station wagon with all the metal equipment."

Lacking even the comfort of a cage, the unlucky cat had likely been sold into the exotic pet trade as an infant. Since then, he had been carted around from village to village with a Peruvian circus. When he wasn't performing, he slept in the car's metal bed, curled up behind the tent poles.

"It was absolutely the most sad, wretched thing that you've ever seen, to see a beautiful animal pushed into a corner," Jan Creamer, president of Animal Defenders International (ADI), told The Dodo. "It was like he wasn't even alive."



https://www.thedodo.com/peru-circus-mountain-lion-tiger-1114770518.html

Poor puma!!

[shenmue]

1. Oh Lord

Glad he's out of there.

[BrotherIvan]

2. How awful!!

So glad they got those poor animals out of there. They talk about a tiger who is not doing well. So very sad.

More from the article:

The mountain lion, named Mustafa, and a condor named Condorito, who also lived at the circus, were the last animals rescued as part of ADI's months-long Operation Spirit of Freedom, a crackdown on performing animals in the wake of Peru's 2011 ban on circus animals. The project has saved nearly 80 animals but, despite the Peruvian government's active partnership, it has often been a struggle.

In Mustafa and Condorito's case, the circus owner staged a riot to prevent police and ADI from rescuing them.
"The circus owner offered money, and it was announced on the local radio that he was offering money, for people to come and fight the police," Creamer said. "A lot of people came and were shouting and screaming."

After an hours-long standoff between the circus and locals and police, the circus owner backed down when he realized he would be facing heavy charges — including possible child endangerment charges for asking people to bring along their children.

Mustafa is underweight, which is clear from pictures, but appears to be more injured emotionally by his unmerciful time in captivity."Mustafa is very shy," Creamer said. "He's really quite nervous and so we're just waiting for him to get a little bit more confident and not be afraid of us."