LOS ANGELES - (Business Wire) Actress Jorja Fox, who portrays character Sara Sidle on the hit show CSI, will be taking part in a dramatic three-day rescue mission by Animal Defenders International (ADI) to bring four circus lions from Bolivia to California.

Fox will be at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to give the lions a refreshing drink of water when they arrive on Tuesday, May 25. Throughout the operation, which will start on Sunday, May 23, when the lions are loaded for transport in Bolivia, Fox will be in contact with the ADI rescue team and receiving updates, video footage and photographs.

The four lions are the first animals to be rescued following the historic ban on animal circuses in Bolivia last year. As ADI Ambassador, Fox helped to encourage Bolivia’s President Morales and thanked him and the National Congress when the ban was passed.

The complex rescue operation will commence during the weekend.

May 22 - 23: ADI team in Bolivia do final veterinary checks – if all goes to plan the lions will be cleared ready to travel.

24th AM: Lions loaded into individual travel crates in Cochabamba, transported to airport, then loaded onto special charter flight.

24th PM: Lion flight takes off for flight, approximately 13 hours, with one fuel stop en route.

25th AM: Lions arrive at San Francisco airport, will be watered and checked and then loaded onto a truck for a 4-hour drive to ARK2000 in San Andreas, Calaveras County.

25th PM: The lions will be unloaded and released into the wonderful ADI habitat at the sanctuary.

For years the lions lived in a rusting cage on the back of a truck with a Bolivian circus but are heading to freedom thanks to ADI and the generous backing of TV presenter Bob Barker.

Studio interviews with Jorja Fox and live links with the ADI rescue team in Bolivia can be organized during the rescue operation.

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