JOHANNESBURG — The roars of lions filled the cargo section of the O.R. Tambo International Airport on Saturday as 33 lions rescued from South American circuses landed in South Africa, where they will be released into a bush sanctuary for big cats.

It was the largest airlift of lions in history, said Jan Creamer, president of Animal Defenders International, which carried out the operation.

‘‘These lions have suffered tremendously,’’ Creamer said as the animals were loaded into crates and onto trucks.

‘‘They lived in small cages on the backs of trucks for their entire lives. Some of them had their teeth bashed in with steel pipes in circuses in Colombia and Peru. Some of them had their claws removed. ... It is a wonderful feeling to bring them back to their home.’’

Nine of the lions were surrendered by a circus in Colombia. The remaining 24 were rescued in raids on circuses in Peru by the animal defense group and officials enforcing a crackdown on wildlife trafficking.

The lions will be placed in quarantine in enclosures at the 12,355-acre Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in Vaalwater in northern South Africa, started three years ago by a single mother and her teenage daughter.

The 33 lions will be monitored by a vet for their first weeks in Africa. They will then be introduced to each other in a 2½-acre bonding enclosure. Many of the lions were never allowed to have direct physical contact with other lions and have never been together without a fence or a cage separating them.

Because of their poor physical state, the lions will never be able to hunt again and will have to be given food and water for the rest of their lives. Emoya will feed the cats with game meat, which it buys in bulk.

The enclosures will be fitted with drinking pools, platforms, and toys to ensure the lions don’t become bored and will be steadily expanded as they become familiar with their new life, said Savannah Heuser, who started Emoya with her mother.

Emoya, in an area with a mix of habitats including mountainous regions, rolling grasslands, forests, cliff caves, and river gorges, has a strict nonbreeding policy, Heuser said.

Female lions may receive contraceptive medications so they can remain with their mates, while males may undergo vasectomies to make sure that no lions are bred in captivity.

Emoya was opened in 2012. The sanctuary’s first cat, a lion rescued from Cairo called Chanel, arrived in June 2013. The sanctuary is currently home to eight big cats.