BAHAWALPUR: Forty-day old African lioness cub, named Rita, died in the hatchery of Bahawalpur Zoo on Thursday. The officials attributed the death to her week-long illness and weakness at birth.

Dawn learnt that the cub expired on Thursday after remaining in a critical condition for four days during which she had diarrhea.

It may be recalled that an African lioness gave birth to a female cub in September in captivity. Since her birth, the cub seemed weak and lean and was hand-fed in the hatchery. The zoo administration named the newborn as Rita and separated her from her mother who herself was born in Bahawalpur Zoo.

The zoo management was afraid of the aggressive behaviour of the mother and apprehended that she might have killer her cub, that’s why shifted her to the hatchery. The zookeepers had planned to keep the female cub in the hatchery for about until the age of six months before reuniting her with other grown-up lions in captivity.

Bahawalpur Division Wildlife Deputy Director Ali Usman Bokhari, who is holding the zoo curator’s charge, told Dawn the cub was in better health until Sunday. He said the condition of the cub started getting bad on Monday when she started avoiding milk. He claimed that the zoo vets had been vigilant about her health and treating her round the clock but her condition continued getting worse and she died on Thursday.

Mr Bokhari denied any negligence on part of the vets and other staff members, claiming that the staffers had been extraordinarily vigilant about her condition and they had given her special attention.

He told Dawn after its expiry, a team of pathologists from the Islamia University Bahawalpur was called in to conduct a post-mortem whose report is yet to be received. After the receipts of this report, he added, more details of the causes of her death might be pointed out in addition to diarrhea.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2024