Orana Wildlife Park has announced the passing of three of its elderly lions.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said, \u201cToday is a very sad day for our team. It is with heavy hearts and much sadness we share the news of the passing of three beloved elderly lions \u2013 sisters Leah and Meeka (22), and Meeka\u2019s son, Mambila (15).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll three cats were declining in health and sadly experiencing age related degenerative muscle wastage, suspected arthritis, and other ailments including incontinence,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision to euthanase the closely bonded family group together is due to their highly social nature. Leah and Meeka lived their entire 22 years together, and Mambila shared a very close bond with his mother,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cProlonging the decision for one or more of the animals would have severely compromised their welfare beyond the degenerative issues they were already facing,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeaving one elderly lion alone or attempting to integrate them with Orana\u2019s remaining pride of two males would have resulted in a negative welfare state or potentially fatal consequences, given lions\u2019 highly territorial nature,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking these heartbreaking decisions is the most difficult part of what we do. This was the kindest call for these majestic animals, allowing them to pass with grace as their condition was declining,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll three cats reached old age and Leah and Meeka had exceptionally long lives and were the oldest lions in the Australasian region at the time of their passing,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMale lions typically live 10 to 14 years and lionesses slightly longer in the wild. This longevity is testament to the extraordinary care provided by our dedicated animal and veterinary teams,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur amazing keepers say it was an absolute privilege to work with these incredible and beautiful animals for many years,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeah is remembered as a very vocal cat and a real lioness by the way she carried herself,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeeka is described as a helicopter parent to Mambila, a very protective mum \u2013 she would growl at visitors trying to take a photo of him,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMambila was a Mumma\u2019s boy, never wandering too far from Meeka, and the team will miss his squeaky roar,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who has farewelled a beloved animal will understand the depth of emotion people experience at such a loss,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese lions were treasured members of our family and will be deeply missed by everyone who cared for them throughout their lives and by the community who enjoyed meeting them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orana Wildlife Park has announced the passing of three of its elderly lions. A spokesperson said, \u201cToday is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[373,111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-265839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-featured","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}