By INALDO PEREZ
See video
here
CALI, Colombia Jan 11, 2007 (AP)— Through
the bars of his cage, an African lion named
Jupiter stretches
his giant paws around the neck of Ana Julia Torres and plants a
kiss on her puckered lips.
It could
be a kiss of gratitude: Since Jupiter was rescued six years ago
from a life of abuse and malnutrition in a traveling circus,
Torres has fed and nursed him back to health at her Villa Lorena
shelter for injured and mistreated animals.
"Here we
have animals that are lame, missing limbs, blind, cross-eyed,
disabled," said Torres, 47, who relies on donations and her own
modest teacher's salary to run the shelter in a poor
neighborhood in the southern city of Cali. "They come to us
malnourished, wounded, burned, stabbed, with gunshots."
Torres
said her work rehabilitating animals began more than a decade
ago when a friend gave her an owl that had been kept as a pet.
Later, when she asked her students to bring their pets to
school, she realized many families illegally kept wild fauna
from Colombia's biologically diverse jungles in their homes.
The number
of animals under her care grew, and today Jupiter is among 800
recovering creatures at Villa Lorena from burned peacocks and
limbless flamingos to blind monkeys and mutilated elephants.
Most of
the animals are caged, though some, like iguanas, roam freely
around the impeccably clean grounds enclosed by a 13-foot wall.
Inside is a monument that the state governor dedicated in
recognition of Torres' work.
Torres
said many of the animals were rejected as infants by their
parents in the wild or found abandoned on the streets of Cali, a
city of 2 million.
Others
were rescued from cruel treatment by owners. One mountain lion
kept illegally as a pet had its two front legs cut off by its
owner after it clawed a family member's face.
Torres
said that of all the animals she has cared for, she is proudest
of having rescued Yeyo, a now-deceased spider monkey who had
suffered violent, drunken beatings at the hands of an alcoholic
owner.
"The
monkey would scream every time it was beaten, until one day the
police came and found the wall covered in blood," she said.
Two
veterinarians saved Yeyo from death, though it lost an eye and
its teeth from the abuse. Yeyo remained terrified of people,
cowering in the corner of the cage at the sound of footsteps,
she said.
Torres
said she opposes exhibiting animals in circuses and has
therefore kept her shelter closed to the public.
"We want
the animals to live in peace," Torres said. "All their life they
were shown at circuses and shows this is a paradise where they
can finally rest."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.
