Friday, November 23, 2012

Kamal the lion at Bristol Zoo has died.

Emily_Koch
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Bristol Zoo has announced that Kamal, their male Asiatic lion, has died.
Kamal, 18, was extremely old for a lion.
    Kamal the lion
  1. Kamal the lion
Consequently he suffered from arthritis and age-related deterioration of his vision.
Zoo vets also suspected that he may have had a tumour.
He had been receiving constant care and treatment from the keepers and zoo vet team who had been closely monitoring his condition.
However, due to the recent deterioration of his health, the decision was made for him to be put down yesterday.
Kamal was born at Helsinki Zoo, Finland, in 1994 and was hand reared by keepers. He arrived at Bristol Zoo in February 2008, where he has lived since. Kamal sired two cubs with our lioness, Shiva, in December 2010. They have since grown up and moved to other European zoos as part of a managed conservation breeding programme. Kamal was greatly loved here at the zoo and had a gentle and tolerant temperament.
Asiatic lions are critically endangered, with only approximately 300 left in the wild, living on a small reserve in the Gir Forest in western India in an area smaller than the New Forest.
Zoo staff will contact the co-ordinator of this important breeding programme to inform him of this sad event and will be making plans to receive a new lion, when the time is right, as a new mate for Shiva.
Source: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Kamal-lion-Bristol-Zoo-died/story-17393557-detail/story.html

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