Meet Jupiter, the beloved lion from Colombia, who became famous while living in the Refúgio Villa Lorena.
Villa Lorena is an animal shelter.
Ana Julia Torres takes care of four lions, nine Bengal tigers, jaguars, cougars, a crocodile, a bear and an ostrich.
There is also a chimpanzee called Jocko, spider monkeys and hundreds of brightly colored birds.
One thing they all have in common — they’ve been abused, says Ana Julia.
“They’re lame or they’ve lost limbs; they’re blind, or they can’t concentrate, or they’ve lost an eye,” she says.
“I have two human children, and the rest of my children are 800 animals — some clawed and some very hairy, but all of them wonderful,” Torres says.
There are around 800 animals at the refuge, but Jupiter the lion was Ana’s favorite.
She rescued Jupiter from the circus, where he was often abused and had his claws removed.
It is clear that Jupiter has lost confidence in people and even developed a phobia of contact with people.
When Ana Julia took care of him, this phobia completely changed.
But the healthy lion was transferred to the Los Caimanes zoo in the city of Monteria.
Officials removed Jupiter from Anna Julia’s care because of her reported lack of documentation to keep the lion.
Unfortunately, Jupiter quickly lost weight during his stay at the zoo and became very ill.
In an attempt to save Jupiter’s life, he was transported to an area closer to Ana Julia.
He went to the Cali Zoo for treatment, where veterinarians watched him around the clock.
Veterinarians determined that he had incurable liver cancer and anemia. He was able to see his beloved Ana Julia for the last time.
Jupiter lost his battle with liver cancer and, unfortunately, passed away.But the memory of him is alive.
