Simba, the lion cub, was barely a week old when he was found, shivering, half starved and abandoned in a cardboard box in a garage in Moscow city - far away from his natural home in Africa. Simba was the victim of illegal trafficking of wildlife as exotic pets.
Portrait of Simba, shortly after he was rescued. © Ayan Kamath Mehra
If the veterinary team of Wild Nature Hospital, a wildlife sanctuary in Russia had not found and rescued Simba in time, he could have died. After nursing Simba back to health, Wild Nature Hospital contacted the Born Free Foundation and asked if they could help rehome Simba. Unfortunately, the sanctuary's in Africa did not have place, so Born Free rehomes Simba in Aminatura wildlife sanctuary in Tuscany.
Simba has come a long way since the day he was found - and will hopefully live out the rest of his days in freedom and peace. To read more on Simba's story, please click here.
To help support wildlife conservation and rescues like Simba's please do consider participating in the Born Free 2022 Mane Auction, aimed at raising funds to protect and preserve endangered animals around the world.
You can bid on my sketch of Simba here. The sketch is graphite on paper, A3 size and involved multiple layers of intricate of pencil work and intricate detail, that took me over 2 weeks to complete. You can see the whole process of creating the sketch of Simba in the video below.