Meet Izulu and Zuri, the half-sisters, who are used to living in the busy environment of a zoo have been given a new enclosure at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden.
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00:00What do you think retirement in the Kent countryside looks like for a lion?
00:04Well, it's something like this. It might not be what you imagine your golden years to look like,
00:09but for half-sisters Zuri and Izulu, they've embarked on the 60-mile journey from Hertfordshire
00:14Zoo to the Big Cat Sanctuary in Smardon, where their usual days of posing and putting on a smile
00:20for zoo crowds has been replaced by a life of tranquillity and enrichment. The sanctuary,
00:26which is home to around 40 big cats, isn't open to the public in the same way as a zoo. Guests
00:31are only given private tours designed to minimise the day-to-day impact on their habitats.
00:37It's going to be a lot quieter because we're not open to the general public.
00:41They're still going to be used for education and fundraising and just being wowed at. It's all
00:46very new for them. It's a complete change of environment, obviously new faces that are
00:49looking after them now. So they're sticking together like glue, finding reassurance from
00:54each other and just taking it all in. Hopefully at some point they'll get to work out that when
00:59we bring our guests around on their tours, those guests usually bring nice things like chicken
01:03drumsticks, so I'm sure they'll be engaged with our experiences pretty soon. The hope is to
01:08eventually integrate them with their male African lion neighbour, Kasanga. He's a really gentle,
01:14laid-back male, similar age. He has lived with females before, so we're just going to see how
01:20they interact next to each other with a dividing fence line and then in time when we see positive
01:25behaviours, look to mix them as a little mini pride for companionship. The park says that
01:30despite them staying close to one another in the first few days for comfort, they're already showing
01:34signs of making themselves at home, climbing onto their platforms and taking some time to enjoy the
01:40limited winter sun. This year the Big Cats Hanctery is celebrating its 25th year. Project
01:46lead Cam Whitnell's family have been rehoming and protecting cat species for generations,
01:50all starting with his grandfather. He says it feels as though the cats at times have even become
01:56part of the family. It's always exciting to welcome new cats, especially Zuri and Azulu. Obviously
02:01I've grown up with them at the zoo, so you know there's no better place like the Big Cat Sanctuary
02:06for them to see out their final days and they're settling in well. It's going to take a little bit
02:10of time for them to adjust and get used to their surroundings, but when they do they'll flourish.
02:15The pair's retirement comes after one of the animal park's biggest projects to date,
02:19bringing four lions from war-torn Ukraine to live out their lives in a new home here in Kent,
02:24with a specially made enclosure hoping to be opened later this year.
02:28They say in retirement you never get a day off and that couldn't be more true for the pair that
02:32have moved in here this week. They've been given a brand new enclosure, a brand new home
02:36to enjoy and explore. For the rest of what we could say is a new set of nine lives each.
02:41Bartholomew Hall for KMTV.
02:44you