Tragic news – Our Nostr Lion Ruben has passed away! 😭💔🦁 This is from ADI please take a moment to read: ‘We are all devastated to announce that our dear Ruben has passed away. Following a recent seizure, Ruben lost control of his back legs, leaving him struggling to get on his feet again. Despite his struggles, Ruben seemed positive, taking his medication, and responding to his carers. Sadly, his condition deteriorated and to get a more thorough diagnosis, Peter arranged an MRI to get images of Ruben’s spine, to see what could be done. We took Ruben to Onderstepoort Veterinary Academy at Pretoria University for MRI imaging of his spine. Several experts looked at the images and discussed with Peter, we saw the magnitude of the damage to Ruben’s spine, spinal nerve and neurological system because of the poor care and conditions in his past life – captivity had ravaged his body. Ruben would never walk again. Peter was thinking that euthanasia may be the only humane option. We see so many victims of captivity in circuses and zoos, where insufficient, deficient food, inbreeding, and lack of space to exercise and develop their bodies, causes lifelong disease and pain. Towards the end of the imaging, Ruben suffered heart failure. Peter pulled him out of the MRI and resuscitated him and he was loaded into his crate to come home, but his heart failed again and despite Peter’s incredible efforts to resuscitate him, he could not revive Ruben a second time. Ruben passed away without regaining consciousness, we are grateful he felt no pain. An incredible character, we rescued 16-year-old Ruben from Armenia where he was named “The Worlds Loneliest Lion” at least he had 7 months of freedom at ADI(equal to 4 human years), and Ruben got his roar back!’ RIP King Ruben you will never be forgotten. As you can imagine I’m completely heartbroken and devastated this morning. My heartfelt thanks go out to EVERYONE on Nostr that zapped generously towards his rescue and care, & especially @ralf ! #lions