A sanctuary quietly housed lions in Ontario cottage country — then came the uproar from neighbours

To try lions howl in the woods of Ontario's Muskoka cottage rural area is unusual, but that's what happened endure summertime, and it's caused a division between former friends and acquaintances over whether that should ever happen again.

Some residents near the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Rosseau, south of Parry Sound, said they want the sanctuary to concentrate on native wildlife after temporarily housing seven African lions last summer.

But the sanctuary's executive director, Linda Glimps, said that if asked, she wouldn't rule out accepting lions in the future.

The situation developed last year when A Humane World for Animals, a non-profit organization, asked the sanctuary to house the lions, which were rescued from a roadside zoo in Quebec.

Glimps said the animals needed a place to stay  while awaiting permits to cross the border for permanent homes in the United States.

Glimps said the temporary housing request came last January and people at the sanctuary had to keep mum because of a legal case involving the animals.

However, she now says the sanctuary was offered more than $600,000 to build an enclosure, including three special shipping containers, for the lions.

“I just want to make sure it's very clear that this was not built with the intention that Aspen Valley would be holding lions on a permanent basis, because certainly that would have been something that we would have not entertained.”

Glimps said seven adult lions arrived in May and some were relocated in July. But an expectant lion had to stay on to give birth and couldn’t leave until October.

Carolyn Pearce lives across the street from where the lion compound was being built, and said she wondered what was happening.

Pearce said those working at the sanctuary — some were former acquaintances she had worked with while volunteering there — were suddenly not very communicative.

She said she saw trees being cut down on what was formerly a wooded trail frequented by deer, and a wire chain link enclosure and wooden gates going up.

One night, she heard the new inhabitants — a sound unlike any she had experience before, except in the film The Lion King.

Pearce said bursts of roaring occurring between four and six times a night woke her up.

It was particularly difficult given she has an autoimmune disease, polymyalgia rheumatica, that requires a solid night’s sleep and special care to prevent inflammation from attacking joints and various parts of her body, she said.

Pearce had moved to the area to be near family and live a stress-free life.

“This was very emotional because we had always gotten along very well with the sanctuary,” she said. “And I have many friends at the sanctuary. I volunteered there for seven years in education, and taking people along the trails, and talking about the importance of ecosystems and the interdependence of living things, and so on. So to have friends avoid you, actually turn around and go the other way — it was quite stressful.”

After awhile, Pearce said, she had to leave her home and live at a family camp in Timmins until the lions were moved out.

Her son-in-law, Hap Wilson, who lives next to her, said he knows the sanctuary land well, having mapped it out and created trails for educational purposes.

Wilson made suggestions for five alternate locations, farther away, to build the lion compound.

He said he wholeheartedly supports the sanctuary’s work to rehabilitate wildlife, as long as it doesn’t clash with nearby residents.

“We don't care if they bring lions in,” he said. “Predator animals — we listen to the wolves howl every day and it's a wonderful thing. These are natural animals that do live in Canada, and the fact that the pens are far enough away, they're about 500 metres away, which is a suggested distance by Canadian Wildlife Services in Canada and [we] haven’t had a problem with that. You have to remember that the sanctuary has 450 acres,” or just over 182 hectares.

Glimps said only about 220 acres (89 hectares) are usable because the rest of the land is rocky and steep, and the alternative sites suggested by Wilson are not practical. She said the existing enclosure exceeds the required setback of 100 metres.

She added the initiative has met with mixed support as some people enjoyed seeing the exotic animals.

The lions' roaring was not excessive and an audio engineer measured it at 60 decibels in an area near Pearce’s home, Glimps said.

“The proper word is carolling, and it's a carol, meaning that it's a vocalization that they have,” she said. “It doesn't last for very long. It's very short bursts of communication with each other, and then, that's it. So it's not like a dog barking, or even the wolves and the coyotes that we have as permanent animals at the sanctuary.”

In a recording provided by Pearce’s daughter that was made on her front porch one night, the lions could be heard carolling for more than a minute.

As for the chances the sanctuary would house a lion again, Glimps wouldn't rule it out, saying a number of factors would have to be considered, but they would never take a lion or tiger in on a permanent basis.

She said having a third party pay for an expensive enclosure has been a boon.

“The benefit that it gave to the work that we do has provided three amazing rescue enclosures that we can use for many, many years to come and rescue all kinds of native animals.”

Those enclosures are being discussed by the Township of Muskoka Lakes.

The issue is not what kind of animal was housed there, but the presence of the three sea cans in the enclosure. The sanctuary said it was unaware building permits are required for the sea cans.

The township considers those structures an expansion of the sanctuary, and that didn't previously go through the planning committee.

It’s being asked to make a ruling now, but has deferred a decision.

As for Pearce, she said she doesn’t know what she would do now if a large exotic animal returned to live across the street.

She said the camp where she stayed before has been sold, so she doesn’t have anywhere else to go.

Glimps said she might approach things differently if there's another request.

“Honestly, at this point in time, if we were ever asked to take in an animal like a lion, there would have to be more consideration, thought and understanding put into what that means."

She said if they we were ever asked to take in a lion again, it's hoped "that the neighbour this time would be open to having a discussion before anything was done, so that we could have a mutual understanding, and talk it through and see what everyone's tolerance level was at.”

Reporter/Editor

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