Wildlife charity Born Free 'shocked' after bronze lion statue in Bristol stolen

A life-size lion statue has been stolen from the Born Free Forever exhibition on the Bristol Downs, leaving the charity devastated.

The installation - a collection of 25 life-size bronze lion statues - has been on the Downs since July.

A local supporter of the exhibition noticed a disturbed patch of grass where the statue once stood and informed the organisation straight away.

The stolen statue depicted a wild lion called Black, who was saved from a rusty circus trailer in Bulgaria and brought to Born Free’s Big Cat sanctuary at Shamwari.

Managing director of Born free, Karen Botha has said it is "shocking that someone would take the opportunity to steal from a charity

“The loss of this statue will be keenly felt by the charity and impact on the work we are able to do in the field,” she finished.

Adele Mills, Head of fundraising at the charity added: “It’s a devastating and cruel parallel that an exhibition highlighting the threats to lions and their catastrophic decline in the wild should be targeted in such a manner.”

The exhibition is raising vital funds to combat the decline in lion population - currently, there are only around 20,000 lions left in the wild.

Avon and Somerset police believe the theft happened between last Wednesday (July 27) and Thursday (July 28) at 8:30pm.

The force are asking anyone with information regarding the missing statue to contact them on 101, quoting crime reference AS-20220729-0258.