VIDEO: Aldergrove zoo mourns passing of lion<\/p>\n
Published 3:00 pm Friday, April 10, 2026<\/p>\n
The Greater Vancouver Zoo announced the death of its 18-year-old African lion, Boomer, on Wednesday, April 8.<\/p>\n
The zoo said Boomer experienced a \u201crapid decline in his quality of life\u201d in the days leading up to a euthanization decision due to end-stage renal disease.<\/p>\n
He had been receiving treatment for the condition since last year.<\/p>\n
Boomer was found as a young cub near a highway in Quebec and was first placed at the Granby Zoo before arriving to Aldergrove\u2019s Greater Vancouver Zoo at the age of three.<\/p>\n
At that time, he was a sub-adult, just beginning to develop his mane.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years, Boomer grew into one of the Zoo\u2019s most iconic animal ambassadors, helping to raise awareness for his species and the challenges facing African lions in the wild,\u201d said the zoo.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He was the most senior lion in the zoo\u2019s care and had been living with chronic kidney disease. The zoo said this was a progressive condition common in older felids.<\/p>\n
The zoo\u2019s animal care and veterinary teams supported him through a care plan that included special nutrition, daily monitoring, medications for kidney function, and regular veterinary assessments.<\/p>\n
However, as his condition advanced, the zoo shifted from active treatment to palliative support, while maintainin his comfort. This was done through providing enrichment and a familiar routine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent weeks, Boomer\u2019s condition declined significantly,\u201d the zoo wrote, as he sustained a loss of appetite and was in discomfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it became clear that medical interventions were no longer effective in maintaining his comfort and dignity, our team made the difficult but compassionate decision to allow him to pass peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the wild, African lions generally live 10 to 14 years. <\/p>\n
The zoo said Boomer lived a long life, and will be remembered by staff and visitors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VIDEO: Aldergrove zoo mourns passing of lion Published 3:00 pm Friday, April 10, 2026 The Greater Vancouver Zoo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-595770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}