This is the heart-wrenching story of a Mountain Lion which is also known as Puma or Catamount. This poor being named Musthafa, had been chained to the back of a Peruvian circus truck for the last 20 years. He was carted to town to town on the truck and forced to perform.
Image courtesy: ADI
Till the day he got freedom from chains, he never knew what it feels like to be in a natural environment. When he wasn’t performing he lived on the back of an old truck bed, where he would curl up and sleep behind the tent poles and other circus supplies.
Following a tip-off, activists of Animal Defenders International (ADI) stepped up to the rescue and rehabilitation of Musthafa. “It was heartbreaking to see Mufasa chained among the circus equipment, living on the back of a pickup truck,” said Jan Creamer, the president of ADI.
The Puma was chained up with a heavy harness wrapped around his entire body. The members of ADI have to standby a eight hour standoff against the owners of circus company to free Musthafa.
When he was finally freed, ADI found that the animal was vastly underweight, nervous and afraid of humans.
Mufasa is now living at Taricaya Ecological Reserve, a special enclosure located in the Amazon Rainforest. After living on the back of a truck in chains for 20-years, it wouldn’t be fair to release Mufasa out into the wild, as he wouldn’t be properly prepared to take care of and protect himself. The lush ecological reserve Mufasa gets to call his forever home is the next best thing.
Image courtesy: ADI
See the short video that documents Musthafa’s walk to freedom:
