Elephant’s back and jumping trought hoops on fire. Nino also had to “dance” on a hot plate
of metal to music being played. He was transferred to the sancutary after losing one of his ears
in an accident.

Katia and Nusca, are two Black Panthers that lived in a “minizoo” belonging to a man
who didn’t have the time to take proper care of them. They were eventually brought here to El
Arca.

Jackie and Yogi, two bears, were abandoned along with Charlie and Kiko, two Tigers,
by a highway in Vigo (Nother Spain). The circus who left them gave nothing to eat or
drink, luckily they were rescued by Seprona. Jackie was found tied by the neek with a chain
that also served to keep their small jail closed. Constantly rubbing his head against the bars
caused Yogi to lose an ear. Yogi is very old, almost blind. Both bears coexist together
happily in their installation, without separation. Charlie and Kiko live with six others Tigres
(Scalibur, Nino, Pepa, Cuqui, Zeus and Eloisa) in an installation of 3.000m2.

Cuqui a Tiger born in an circus, before bought to us was kept by the family without any
documentation.

Sumatra and Simba, very old Tigers bought to us trought the Government of Cataluña
from a centre which is now closed. When they arrived they were very under fed and now are
in recovery and learning to live with others tigers.

Rita is a monkey (Cercopitec) bought to us after being found in the street, where she
had been lost and wasn’t reclaimed and finally bought to us at the centre.

Ramiró is an monkey (Macaca Silvana) found inside a car after an accident. The French
owners could not give any documents for the monkey and he possibly could have been sold
illegally abroad. Now living at El Arca with other monkeys of the same breed in a specially
built enclosure along with Chaneleta who was found in the street in Almeria.

Another old monkey, Teresa, (Macaca Silvana) came to us from private house after
being rescued from Seprona again without any legal documentation.

Wally, another monkey (Cercopiteco) came to us in similar circumstances as Teresa.

Meiga again from a private house in Barcelona was bought up with a German shepherd
and did not recognise her race. She spent some time with Rex, a German shepherd currently
here at El Arca but now has adapted to being with others pumas.
These cases, among many others, give us an example of the problems that exist when wild
animals are fored to live in captivity.

Many people do not realise that a wild animal can have a very long life-span in
captivity as well as in the wild . A big cat can live up to 20 years, a Chimpanze 50, a Bear 30,
etc. It is once people realise the commitment they have to the animal that they realise they
cannot cope. Many things such as the size of enclousure, amount of food, medical bills, mental
well-beig etc, all need to be taken into consideration.

Althought we always carry out a socialisation process when a new animal arrives, it’s
new location and the company of a new group of animals can be very dangerous. Most
animals are very territorial and this has led to some serious fights among the animals. In some cases the new animal has to be transferred to a new enclosure which, unfortunately, increases
the cost to the sanctuary and also reduces the living space for the particular animal.