PRETORIA -- Two Barbary lions from Bologne in Italy will arrive in South Africa today for a breeding project, the Hoedspruit Research and Breeding Centre for Endangered Species said yesterday.

Owner Lente Roode said the six-year-old lions, Sissi and Arturo, had been kept in cages by their previous owner in Bologne, but they were well fed and healthy.

An animal protection group from the United Kingdom had persuaded the owner to donate the lions to South Africa for a breeding project, Ms Roode said. The lions were originally from Morocco.

Ms Roode said the lions would be housed temporarily at the Pretoria Zoo's animal hospital before being transported to the Onderstepoort animal institute.

They would only be sent to the Hoedspruit centre in about three months' time to join another Barbary lion, 12-year-old Orion, which was rescued from Maputo about two years ago after being abandoned by a circus.

The centre would attempt to breed with the three lions and relocate the species in the Cape. The Barbary lion closely resembled the extinct Cape lion.