Monday, April 29, 2019

Two lion cubs die due to 'careless handling' by mother lioness


Press Trust of India  |  Ahmedabad 
Two cubs died within two days of their birth due to the "careless handling" by their mother in Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat, a forest official said on Thursday.
The state forest department's efforts to increase the genetic diversity of the Asiatic lions has suffered a setback due to the incident.
"Under its Gene Pool project to boost the genetic diversity of the big cats in Gujarat, the department has kept two lions and two lionesses at their facility in Wildlife Sanctuary near Porbandar," said Chief of Forests, Junagadh Wildlife Circle, D T Vasavada.
Lioness Sarita gave birth to two cubs on April 1, which took the number of lions in the sanctuary to six.
"Although proper care was taken by the forest staff, two cubs died on the night of April 3. During the post-mortem, we found fatal wounds on the cubs. Since mother lionesses lift their cubs in their mouth, it is possible that the lioness in this case miscalculated the pressure, which could have resulted in their death," Vasavada said.
He added that such accidents happen when a lioness becomes mother for the first time and doesn't have experience of handling the cubs.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, April 04 2019. 20:20 IST
https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/two-lion-cubs-die-due-to-careless-handling-by-mother-lioness-119040401196_1.html

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