Ana Julia Torres, Sister Of Animals

Ana Julia Torres is a woman endowed with a special sensitivity towards animals, especially those that are exploited in different ways by man. That complicity with other beings of nature led her to undertake a task that many find quixotic. It consists of rescuing the specimens that are victims of some form of abuse.

In order to welcome the animals and provide them with everything they require, Ana Julia Torres created a space that she called Villa Lorena, in a poor area of ​​the city of Cali, in Colombia. There, and for more than two decades, he has built a home for different species.

The work of Ana Julia Torres became famous not so much for the work itself, which is wonderful, but for the particular relationship that different animals established with it. The images of her hugging a huge lion became famous. He did not hide his attachment to the woman and expressed it not only through those unique hugs, but also with “kisses”.

Ana Julia Torres and a commendable work

Ana Julia Torres has been a teacher for a long time and has been concerned with instilling in her students a great love for nature. He says that about 22 years ago he asked students to bring their pets to school and introduce them to the other children. On that occasion, and for the first time, he noticed that many people had exotic wildlife in their homes.

A few months later, a friend of his gave him an owl that he had acquired in an illegal market. The man had bought it because it seemed curious to him, but very soon he had had enough of it. As she knew that Ana Julia loved animals, she gave it to her and that aroused in her the desire to rescue all those specimens that, perhaps, were going through similar situations.

This is how little by little he began to acquire lots in a poor area of ​​Cali, since there was enough land there and it was not very expensive. At the same time, it was proposed to rescue all those animals that were rejected by their owners, or that went through situations of exploitation. In the end, he managed to build the shelter on a 25-hectare site and today he has more than 900 animals.

The stories of the rescued

Ana Julia Torres headed her search mainly towards a scene in which there are usually animals in poor condition: the circus. He also advertised his project so that anyone who knew about abuses of any kind would report them. Throughout all these years he has managed to collect many stories of love and pain that involve his protégés.

He remembers with special tenderness “Yeyo”, a spider monkey who lived with an alcoholic man. She found out about him because the neighbors reported that they heard the animal’s screams, almost daily. She herself reported the case to the police and the officers found that the man frequently kicked the monkey. Traces of blood and wounds were found throughout the animal’s body.

He also refers with special emotion to an elephant he rescued from a circus. The animal had a blind eye, wounded legs, had no tail, and had had one ear cut off. Ana Julia Torres had to find a group of friends to protest every day in front of the circus until they handed her the specimen. The elephant hugged her and held her with its trunk, after rescuing it.

The case of Jupiter

Ana Julia Torres’ most famous guest was a lion named Jupiter. He had been rescued from a circus when he was just three months old. By then his nails had already been pulled out and he showed signs of abuse. Since then, she adopted him, fed him, and became his best friend.

Next to Ana Julia, Jupiter looked like a domestic pet. He grew up being a loving, sociable and very restless animal. He was already 16 years old when the environmental authority visited the Villa Lorena refuge and determined that it was not suitable to house a lion like Jupiter. By legal means, they decided that he should be transferred to a state shelter in another city in the country.

A couple of years later, Ana Julia decided to visit her old friend. To her surprise, she found him seriously ill and distant. When he had delivered it, the animal weighed 240 kilos; now, her weight was no more than 90. He was not happy to see her and did not even sit up because he did not have the strength to do so.

Ana Julia sought the support of the media and thus got it delivered again. He took him to Villa Lorena and after a week he managed to get him to start eating with some normality. He was also friendly with her again. However, two weeks later, he died. The case is under investigation. Ana Julia, the quixotic, cried dearly when she lost this battle, but she knows that her fight must continue.