In the centre of the city, Petersburg residents found a parked van with a young lioness trapped inside. For at least two days, a chain secured the animal to the rear seat, and it had to endure the heat in the closed vehicle.
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Tonna the Lioness belonged to a travelling circus troupe from Penza. The owner explained that their hotel didn’t allow animals on the premises, so, he kept her in the van.
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When the cops showed up, the owners weren’t able to show any ownership documents.
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A veterinarian from the Leningrad Zoo Park, along with animal rights activists, examined the lioness, and they noted that she had rickets. Furthermore, obviously, the lioness wasn’t being fed properly.
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Animal rights activists intend to take this matter up with the Prokuratura. On Saturday, 23 July, the lioness was temporarily placed at the Mariinsky hospital.
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On Sunday, 24 July, Tonna was taken to an animal shelter on Bolshoi Smolensk Prospekt in Nevsky Raion of Saint Petersburg. She’ll stay there for a month… if her owners can’t provide ownership documents before that date.
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25 July 2011
RIA-Novosti
Voices From Russia, Too 
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