Kivu is an 18-year-old lion that had its home at the Simon Bolivar Zoo in San Jose until this week, when he was moved to his new home in the Zoo Ave facilities in La Garita, Alajuela.
But Kivu is not just any lion, he is one that has created controversy for a very long time in Costa Rica due to the conditions he was kept in in the Simon Bolivar Zoo.
Kivu arrived in Costa Rica from Cuba at the end of the 90’s and since had only known one home, a 70 square meter area that he used to share with his companion, lioness Kariba, who died of cancer in 2011; since then, he has lived alone, but he’s also had many defenders of his cause, many animal right defenders and specialists who for years have been requesting that Kivu is moved to a different area, one more appropriate for him and that would allow him better living conditions and more freedom, also and more importantly that he was not in constant exhibition to the public.

In 2013 when the health of the lion was evidently deteriorated controversy raised again; the Ministry of Environment (MINAE) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MAG) of Costa Rica requested to FUNDAZOO the entity that manages the Simon Bolivar Zoo to move the lion to a different park, initially the plan was to move him to the Santa Ana Conservation Center. However, this never happened, instead, legal resources were presented with arguments of the veterinarians and administration members of the Simon Bolivar Zoo that claimed that moving the lion who had lived in this same place for 18 years was risky, they also included evidence that Kivu had recovered, was in good health conditions, and was receiving constant attention from veterinarians and nutritionists.

After the coming and going of legal and administrative paperwork, the Simon Bolivar Zoo was given time until November 7 to move him to a different place, but instead, the Zoo presented an appeal and requested an additional 25 months to build a new enclosure within the Simon Bolivar or in the Santa Ana Conservation Center, with the argument that they needed that time to raise the necessary funds, estimated in $500 thousand USD, the Ministry rejected the request, arguing that the well-being and health of the animal was at stake, FUNDAZOO challenged the Government to try and take him.

Finally, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, accepted the challenge, took matters in their hands and on December 5th they moved Kivu to his new home, a 300-square meter area that took Zoo Ave only 3 weeks to build and had an approximate cost of $12,500.00 USD.

Kivu spent three days in a contention area under observation and is not getting familiar with his new surroundings, bigger space, a cave, and away from the curiosity of the public. Experts hope this will improve the quality of his life.