How Love Saved the Life of a Dying Lioness

Say hello to Sheila, a rescued lioness with beguiling blonde fur whose one-of-a-kind personality now captures the heart of everyone she meets. When the big cat was brought to the facility, her bright coat and fierce demeanor made her the center of attention.

Following a successful Animal Rights campaign, The Department of Agriculture rescued Sheila in July 2009. Many of the animals they rescue are victims of mistreatment but find a new lease on life in wildlife sanctuaries. They were hoping to see those same results for Sheila.

Sheila was too weak to do anything other than lie down and breathe. She was malnourished and underweight, all skin and bone. Vets were concerned as they watched over the dying lioness. They saw only one outcome for poor Sheila.

For years, Sheila had been abused, forced to work in the entertainment industry in Texas. Her handler had been vicious to her, seeing her only as a tool for profit. Once Sheila had become too worn down to make any more money, she was discarded.

As a cub, Sheila had been trained to entertain the high society crowd that would cheer at her slightest lithe moments, springy leaps, and fierce little roar. But none of that graceful agility remained following Sheila’s rescue.

While Sheila’s case was the worst the Department of Agriculture had seen, her story is not unique. It’s estimated that around two million pets are stolen every year. Some are used in cruel puppy mills so their offspring can turn a profit for pet sellers and pet stores across the world.

The Department of Agriculture was running out of hope for Sheila’s recovery. They decided to turn her over to the specialists, In-Sync, an exotic wildlife rescuer & education center. They welcomed her with open arms, but from the moment they saw her, they knew the chances of her survival were slim.

The initial plan was to bombard her with essential vitamins to boost her immune system.  Unfortunately, Sheila wouldn’t even eat. She would just lay there inside her cage and turn her back on her food.

The possibility of euthanization hovered overhead like a shadow. As she couldn’t even stand on her own, it seemed like the most humane course of action. As Sheila regained some of her weight, they focused on getting her to walk.

The vets did what they could to restore the lioness to good health, but Sheila’s health worsened over time. One day, she just dropped. She was dead to the world.

Despite their close care for Sheila, nothing seems to work. Her condition worsened each day. It was frustrating to the vets. They were pressed to make the final decision: to put her out of her misery. 

What a waste it was to let go of such a beautiful animal, deprived of life’s joys practically from the day she was born, exploited to the point of suicide.

The In-Sync vets were tipped off by Sheila’s wobbliness and lack of coordination. They crossed-referenced these symptoms with signs of muscle deterioration and lymph node swelling and came up with a diagnosis.

Now that the vets had discovered the root cause of her suffering, Sheila’s doctors scrambled to get her medicated, but time was of the essence. The presence of parasites in her blood was just another reminder of the neglect her previous owner had given her. 

But just because they’d found a solution, the treatment wasn’t going to be an instant fix. Sheila was ever distrustful of humans, not surprising considering her history. Getting her to take medication was a constant challenge.

Once they took effect, Sheila reacted positively to her new medication, which then became easier to deliver. After a while, she began to get used to her new carers. The glow of her coat gradually reappeared and would occasionally be seen moving around the corners of her enclosure.

Once she was on the right road, her recovery time exceeded even the highest of expectations. One day she was just finding her footing, the next, she was bouncing around like a rabbit with an extra wiggle on her hips.

In her darkest hours, while she battled an infected bloodstream and fading eyesight, Sheila could never have imagined herself running free in the wild with her kind. She was simply too sick and dispirited. Life was not worth living.

Sheila gradually filled out following her treatments, and eventually, she caught the eye of a certain someone. That certain someone was Kahn, a handsome six-year-old lion who had been rescued four months earlier. He’d also suffered similar traumas. 

In-Sync inadvertently played the role of matchmaker for these two. A bond grew between them that surprised everyone. Even the veterinarians couldn’t believe it, but it’s not that difficult to understand when you think about it. 

Both Kahn and Sheila had been rescued from irresponsible owners. They both came into the facility in bad shape. Perhaps the lion had become a symbol of hope to Sheila, that she could shed troubles just as Kahn had. His presence was all the proof she needed.

Kahn must have seen the lioness’ scars the day she was brought inside the sanctuary, both physical and mental. Kahn used to be beaten up too. He must have understood her pain and growled a roar of empathy.

Even as Kahn recovered, there was something visibly wrong with him. His growth had been stunted after being cooped up for such a long time. Not only was his size stunted, but he had been severely malnourished too.

When Kahn wasn’t forced to perform balancing acts, whipped, or sent back and forth across a firing range of camera flashes, he was kept inside a barren cage, barely able to move. There he would defecate and urinate in the same spot as he ate his meals.

Kahn’s violent past made him difficult to handle during his early days in the facility. He had no friends. As far as he was concerned, all the humans around him were predators, exploiters out to shame and hurt him for reasons beyond his comprehension.

After a while, Kahn realized that the staff at the facility had only good intentions. The old suspicions he had developed from his life on the road gradually gave way to trust. He had become clean, comfortable, and well-fed.

Kahn gained the confidence to explore this new world, full of better-natured humans. The staff built a staircase so that he could go up in his den if he pleased, where he would seek shelter if the weather wasn’t to his liking, or to sleep or play.

At certain times of day, Kahn and Sheila would walk beside each other like perfectly social creatures with only a fence separating them. They got to know each other as they walked about, learning each other’s traits.

The In-Sync staff was amazed by what they saw. This was a treatment that went beyond what antibiotics or other medications could offer. They realized that something special was at play between Kahn and Sheila. Khan had truly brought Sheila back to the land of the living.

From the beginning, Kahn has been an essential part of her recovery. First from a distance, then up close, and finally intimately. Their friendship developed into something more as the days wore on. A quick glimpse into their enclosure would reveal playful activities and, sometimes, kisses.

In the small community where Kahn the lion and Sheila the lioness now belonged, their success story became a symbol of all the sanctuary hoped to achieve: a desire for love to win out over fear.

After ninety days of dating, the carers at In-Sync Exotics finally decided to let them have their own little “marriage” ceremony. 

For the first time in their lives, they were happy and healthy. They spent their days playing and snoozing on one another. Kahn was in every way a gentleman to Sheila, an ideal partner who didn’t mind giving her a certain degree of control.

Sheila was robbed of her cubhood and thrown into forced labor as soon as she was born. Sheila would sometimes become engrossed in her playtime, amusing herself with cardboard boxes like a baby. She’d never experienced this before, learning for the first time how it feels to be free. 

Owning exotic animals is a controversial matter. But there is no doubt that cruelty and abuse are involved, of the same kind that Kahn and Sheila suffered. Their previous owners were banned from the ownership and management of wild animals or domesticated pets for life. Of course, others are still out there.

Sheila the lioness should have died given her suffering.  It was the cruelty of humanity that put her at death’s door and the kindness of humanity that saved her. However, above all else, it was love that brought joy back into her life.