Years after Argentina shut a notorious zoo, the stranded animals are finally being rescued

LUJAN, Argentina (AP) — Lions, tigers and bears that managed to survive in substandard conditions at a now-shuttered zoo on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, paced weakly in their claustrophobic cages on Thursday, waiting their turn to receive urgent veterinary care for the first time in years.

The 62 big cats and two brown bears were being evaluated and treated before their eventual transfer to vast wildlife sanctuaries abroad — among the most complex animal rescues undertaken in Argentina after the country's recent arrangement with an international animal welfare organization.

Argentine authorities in 2020 shut down the Lujan Zoo — famous for letting visitors handle and pose for pictures with tigers and lions — over mounting safety concerns.

But the plight of the captive cats there only worsened. For the past five years, the animals were sustained by little more than a few loyal zookeepers who, despite having lost their jobs at Lujan, took it upon themselves to feed and care for the stranded lions and tigers left behind.

Most didn’t make it.

When Four Paws, an animal rights charity, first visited the zoo in 2023, caretakers counted 112 lions and tigers — already down from the 136 big cats housed in the zoo at the time of its closure.

Two years on, almost half of the animals have succumbed to illnesses from poor nutrition, wounds from fights with animals they’d never encounter in the wild, infections from lack of medical attention and organ failure from the stress of living in such cramped conditions.

“It was really shocking,” said the organization’s chief program officer, Luciana D’Abramo, pointing to a 3-square-meter (10-square-foot) cage crammed with seven female lions. “Overcrowded is an understatement.”

Next-door, two Asian tigers shared a tiny cage with two African lions — a “social composition that would never be found in nature,” D’Abramo said. “There’s a lot of hostility, fighting.”

A single lion typically gets 1 hectare (2.5 acres) to itself at Four Paws' sanctuaries around the world.

After striking an agreement with Argentina’s government earlier this year, Four Paws took over responsibility for the surviving wild animals in Lujan last month.

The memorandum of understanding involved Argentina committing to end the sale and private ownership of exotic felines in the large South American country, where enforcement efforts often run aground across 23 provinces that have their own rules and regulations.

Although the Vienna-based organization has previously evacuated starving tigers from Syria's civil war, abandoned bears and hyenas from the war-ravaged Iraqi city of Mosul and neglected lion cubs from the besieged Gaza Strip, it has never rescued such a large number of big cats before.

“Here, the number of animals and the conditions where they are kept make this a much bigger challenge,” said Dr. Amir Khalil, the veterinarian leading the group’s emergency mission. “This is one of our biggest missions ... not only in Argentina or Latin America, but worldwide."

On Thursday, veterinarians and experts from the organization were scrambling around the derelict zoo to assess the animals one by one. Most had not been vaccinated, sterilized or microchipped for identification.

The team whisked sedated lions and tigers onto operating tables, dispensing nutrients, antibiotics and doses of pain medication via IV drips.

The quick checkups frequently transformed into emergency surgeries. One tiger was treated for a bleeding gash in its tail last week and a lioness for a vaginal tumor on Thursday. Several tigers and lions needed root canals to repair infected molars that had been broken on the steel cage bars.

Others received treatment for claws that had grown inward from walking too much on unnatural, plank flooring in the spartan enclosures.

After evaluating each animal in the coming weeks, Four Paws will arrange for their transfer to more expansive, natural homes around the world.

Some Argentine zookeepers who spent decades feeding and caring for the big cats say they're happy to see Four Paws improving the conditions. But there was also a sense of nostalgia for how things were.

“It used to be a very popular place ... I’ve seen people cry because they could touch a lion or feed a tiger with a bottle," said Alberto Díaz, who spent 27 years working with the wild cats at the Lujan Zoo, overseeing hands-on experiences that catered to countless tourists.

“Time changes, laws change, and you have to adapt or get left behind."

A goat looks out from behind a fence at the former Lujan Zoo, which closed in 2020, where in recent days a global animal welfare organization has been treating animals, in Lujan, Argentina, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A lion peers out of a cage at the former Lujan Zoo, which closed in 2020, where in recent days a global animal welfare organization has been treating animals, in Lujan, Argentina, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Members of a global animal welfare organization treat a tiger at the former Lujan Zoo, which closed in 2020, in Lujan, Argentina, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Members of a global animal welfare organization treat a tiger at the former Lujan Zoo, which closed in 2020, in Lujan, Argentina, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Florencia, a brown bear, lies in her cage at the former Lujan Zoo, which closed in 2020, where in recent days a global animal welfare organization has been treating animals, in Lujan, Argentina, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

LONDON (AP) — British police said Sunday they are investigating whether a string of arson attacks. on Jewish sites in London are the work of Iranian proxies.

The Metropolitan Police force says counterterror officers are probing the attacks on synagogues and other sites linked to the Jewish community, as well as an attack on a Persian-language media company.

No one has been injured in the blazes, the latest of which caused minor damage to a north London synagogue on Saturday night.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans said the attacks had been claimed online by a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia.

“We are aware of public reporting that suggests this group may have links to Iran. As you would expect, we will continue to explore that question as our investigation evolves," she said.

“I’ve spoken previously about the Iranian regime’s use of criminal proxies, and we’re considering whether this tactic is being used here in London," she added.

Israel’s government has described Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, whose name means the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, as a recently founded group with suspected links to “an Iranian proxy” that has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

A blaze that damaged Kenton United Synagogue on Saturday night follows a series of blazes at Jewish-linked premises and an Iranian opposition outlet that are being investigated by counterterror police.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said on X that “a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum.

“Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society,” he added.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the attacks, and pledged that "those responsible will be found and brought to justice.”

London’s Metropolitan Police force said it has sent extra uniformed and plainclothes officers to northwest London after attacks in the past month on synagogues, Jewish charity ambulances and a Persian-language media organization critical of Iran’s government.

The Kenton synagogue arson came a day after an attempt to ignite bottles of fluid outside the former offices of a Jewish charity on Friday night.

No one has been injured in any of the incidents. Several people, ranging in age from teens to people in their 40s, have been arrested and charged.

The same group also posted a video claiming Israel’s London embassy was going to be attacked with drones carrying dangerous substances. Police said the embassy was not attacked, but the force shut the nearby Kensington Gardens park on Friday as officers examined discarded items including two jars containing powder. Police said nothing harmful was found.

The U.K. has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to conduct attacks on European soil targeting opposition media outlets and the Jewish community. Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service says that more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots were disrupted in the year to October.

Some security experts say Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia is likely a flag of convenience rather than a coherent group, and its claims should be treated with caution.

FILE - A sign stands in front of the New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police, in London, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

Police officers patrol at a cordon near Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, a suburb of London, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (Jamie Lashmar/PA via AP)