By February 2022, through the bars of their cages, four tigers had watched the sunrise over the meadow more than 5,000 times. Freedom had always been right in front of them, yet so far away.
The cages were barely larger than the size of two parking spaces and were part of an old train carriage – unfit for any animal. In the beginning, it was only two of them. Then two cubs were born, who are 10 years old today. They were trapped behind bars in dirty conditions, with little space to move on a train wagon – which has been stood still since then.
We had a very short window of opportunity to rescue them and to show these majestic big cats that they deserve better. We worked hard on issuing the permits with the authorities and gave our best to plan out the mission despite logistical obstacles.
