{"id":287633,"date":"2025-10-08T22:30:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T22:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/287633\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T22:30:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T22:30:12","slug":"rescue-lion-louie-dies-at-lions-tigers-bears-animal-sanctuary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/287633\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescue lion Louie dies at Lions Tigers &#038; Bears animal sanctuary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Louie_lion_002_Kathleen-Reeder-2-MB-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Louie_lion_002_Kathleen-Reeder-2-MB.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-193201\"  \/><\/a>Louie in 2022. (File photo courtesy of Lions Tigers &amp; Bears)<\/p>\n<p>The animal sanctuary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lionstigersandbears.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lions Tigers &amp; Bears<\/a> on Wednesday announced the death of Louie, a white lion who had been with the Alpine facility for eight years.<\/p>\n<p>Louie, a nickname for Lufuno, was rescued in April 2017 alongside two female lions, Zulu and Arusha, who also have died. The animals had spent years performing in film, television and live entertainment. Their former trainer made the decision to relinquish them to Lions Tigers &amp; Bears. <\/p>\n<p>Louie (see him below in a post from last month) was 12 when he arrived in Alpine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen trainers can no longer make money from an animal like Louie, those animals become disposable and are often discarded,\u201d said Bobbi Brink, founder and director of the animal sanctuary. \u201cOver time, with patience, space and love, we watched him reclaim his wild spirit. He became the protector he was always meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Brink, as the years passed, Louie began to suffer from chronic arthritis, extreme back pain and increasing immobility. After consultations with veterinarians and caregivers, the sanctuary made the decision to \u201clet him go peacefully\u201d and humanely euthanize him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis decision is heartbreaking, but it is the most compassionate choice for him now. We are grateful to have been part of his second chance,\u201d Brink said.<\/p>\n<p>Following his rescue, Lions Tigers &amp; Bears secured a legal commitment from his former trainer never to acquire or train big cats again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLouie is more than just one lion. He represents all animals used and discarded by the entertainment industry,\u201d Brink said. \u201cHis legacy lives on in every animal we rescue and in every effort we make to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lions Tigers &amp; Bears cares for more than 65 rescued animals. <\/p>\n<p>READ NEXT\n\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Louie in 2022. (File photo courtesy of Lions Tigers &amp; Bears) The animal sanctuary Lions Tigers &amp; Bears&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":287634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[147922,5229,147923,1582,276,24801,147924,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-287633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-alpine","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-animal-sanctuary","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-euthanized","14":"tag-lions-tigers-bears","15":"tag-san-diego","16":"tag-sandiego","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}