Sickly old lion put down at Mountain Zebra National Park

Managers at Mountain Zebra National Park outside Cradock said on Tuesday they had euthanised a very old male lion which was in a poor condition. 

SANParks said the lion had been monitored from December last year and its condition did not improve over two months. The lion was darted towards the end of February for closer evaluation.

“Taking into account the lion’s advanced age of 17 years, compared with the lifespan of lions in the wild which is eight to 16 years, poor body condition and clinically observed poor health (reluctance to move and poor tooth health), indicating that he was no longer able to fend for himself, the SANParks veterinarian and park management made the decision to chemically euthanise him as he was unlikely to recover,” SANParks said. 

It said removal from the park by translocation was not an option because in a large open system, a lion of this age would have been outcompeted and possibly killed by rivals or younger males.

“Removal to unfamiliar surroundings, lacking the support from his pride to secure prey or depending on supplemented feed in a captive situation was regarded as unethical for a lifelong free-ranging animal.” 

SANParks said two male lions would be introduced into the park.

“The removal and reintroduction of male lions into and out of the park plays an important role in preventing inbreeding within this population and therefore aids in maintaining the genetic integrity of its lion population.” 

SANParks introduced lions into the park in March 2009, the third predator species in the park after the introduction of cheetah in 2007 and brown hyena in 2008. 

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