We recognize Mufasa as father to Simba in Disney’s *The Lion King*, but there is a lion bearing the same name that also deserves our attention. Mufasa the mountain lion was recently released after 20 years of being used in a Peruvian circus. Alan García, president of Peru at the time, signed an agreement to ban the use of wild animals in circuses in 2011, according to PETA. Despite the ban, circuses such as Circo Koreander in the case of Mufasa continued to keep wild animals illegally. The mountain lion was found chained to a heavy harness at the back of a pick-up truck. After an eight-hour dispute between circus members and the police, he was brought to an Animal Defenders International (ADI) rehabilitation center. Mufasa has since been transferred to the Tambopata reserve in southeastern Peru, home to some of the world’s least impacted habitat.
