They were previously housed at Port Lympne Zoo in the south of England.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the zoo said: “We’re sad to share the news that our two remaining Barbary lionesses at Belfast Zoo, Thheiba and Fidda, have passed peacefully.<\/p>\n
“During their lives, the sisters received exceptional care and became key contributors to conservation as part of the EAZA Ex-Situ Programme (EEP), producing multiple offspring and helping secure the future of Barbary lions, a lion sub-species now extinct in the wild.”<\/p>\n
They added that in recent weeks Thheiba experienced “mobility issues and weight loss”. <\/p>\n
A decision was taken to “euthanise her and end her suffering after a veterinary assessment”.<\/p>\n
“Lions are highly social pride animals that rely on companionship within a group. <\/p>\n
“Thheiba and Fidda had lived together their entire lives and shared a very strong bond. On veterinary advice, and to avoid significant stress and welfare challenges if left alone, Fidda was also euthanised.”<\/p>\n
The zoo said they have had an association with lions for “many decades, with Barbary lions first arriving at the zoo in the 1960s”.<\/p>\n
“Thheiba and Fidda’s longevity, their strong bond and their vital role in conservation is testament to our long-standing commitment to the care and conservation of this iconic species.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They were previously housed at Port Lympne Zoo in the south of England. In a statement, the zoo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-524181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}