African lions born in captivity in Peru caged in a containment area in Puente Piedra, on the northern outskirts of Lima, before being airlifted to Johannesburg yesterday.

A planeload of 33 lions rescued from abuse in Peruvian and Colombian circuses by Animal Defenders International flew to South Africa in what campaigners called the largest airlift of big cats.

They will be housed in Johannesburg before being sent in October to the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in the north of the country.

The lions were freed after the use of wild animals in circuses was outlawed in Peru in 2011 and in Colombia in 2013.