Brookfield Zoo’s male lion dies
Brookfield Zoo veterinary staff euthanized the institution’s 14-year-old male African lion Zenda as a result of age-related degeneration, the zoo announced Friday.
Zenda, who had been at Brookfield since 2008, had lost his mane in recent years, and before Christmas, the zoo said, staff noticed he was having difficulty standing and walking.
The animal’s symptoms were being treated with pain medication, but on Thursday, his condition declined further and “the difficult decision was made to humanely euthanize him,” the zoo said in a statement.
This marks the second death in recent months of a male African lion familiar to Chicago zoogoers. In September, the 9-year-old male Sahar died at Rolling Hills Zoo in Salina, Kansas. Sahar had been at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo from 2012 through the spring, when he and two female pride members were transferred to Rolling Hills so Lincoln Park could begin a Lion House renovation project.
A necropsy done at Kansas State University revealed that Sahar died from encephalitis (brain inflammation) due to a fungal infection, Rolling Hills announced in mid-October.
At Brookfield, “preliminary necropsy results revealed Zenda had several degenerative discs in his spine that had ruptured as a result of his advanced age and were inoperable,” according to the news release.
Zenda, who was at an age considered geriatric for male lions, was said to have a close relationship with longtime mate, the female Isis, also 14, and zoo staff will be monitoring her closely in coming weeks to help her adjust, according to Brookfield.