Bannerghatta zoo staff hand-rear female lion cubs

Officials at the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) have successfully hand-reared two lion cubs in order to save them from their mother which has the history of killing its own offspring.

Determined to save the cubs, officials walked the extra mile and even brought in goats just to feed the lion cubs for more than a month at the BBP veterinary hospital.

Fed with goat’s milk and other nutritional supplements since their birth on April 24, 2018, the cubs will soon be a major attraction in the park.

The lion couple, Sana (8) and Shankar (6), was blessed with four cubs in April. Sana had the habit of consuming her own cubs during the last two lettering.

This time, too, Sana ate a cub soon after giving birth to it. But the BBP staff were determined to protect other cubs and separated them from the mother.

While one cub died immediately, the other two have survived due to the veterinarian’s constant care.

Two goats were obtained just to source the milk for the cubs, a source in the BBP told DH.

“The female cubs have been hand-reared by our experienced team of doctors and staffers at the zoo hospital. They were fed with goat’s milk and nutritional supplements initially. Now, they are given a regular diet and have completed three months with joy and playfulness. We are thrilled to have them as part of our animal family in the zoo,” R Gokul, executive director at the Bannerghatta Biological Park, said.