San Diego Zoo euthanizes lion
M’bari, 15, had health problems tied to age. He was known for his powerful roaring.
15-year-old M’bari was known to have kidney and spine issues, and his health was declining in recent days.
SAN DIEGO — A 15year-old African lion at the San Diego Zoo was euthanized Wednesday for agerelated health problems, the zoo said in a statement.
The lion, M’bari, had been under veterinary care for some time, the zoo said.
“In recent days, his condition had steadily worsened, despite attempts by animal care staff to modify his habitat to make him more comfortable,” the zoo said. So staff decided euthanasia was the most humane course.
The lion is known to have had kidney degeneration and spinal arthritis, said Andrew James, a zoo spokesman. A necropsy will be performed to determine M’bari’s health problems more precisely.
M’bari lived with his mate, Etosha, in their habitat at the Harry and Grace Steele Elephant Odyssey area. And according to the zoo, he was quite vocal.
“His early morning and late afternoon roars could be heard throughout the entire zoo,” the statement said.
That roar matched his commanding attitude, according to a March profile in the zoo’s monthly magazine, Zoonooz.
“M’bari is confident and particular,” Kimberly Hyde, a senior keeper at the zoo, said in the magazine. “He doesn’t like having his routine changed, but sometimes it’s necessary.”
M’bari arrived at the zoo with Etosha in 2009; both had lived at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
On the same day M’bari’s death was announced, the San Francisco Zoo said its 16-year-old male African lion named Jahari had died Monday of old age.
He was born at the zoo in 2003 and raised by the staff after his mother died shortly after giving birth.
The zoo’s chief executive, Tanya Peterson, says Jahari will be remembered for his bellowing roar that could be heard from every corner of the zoo.
Jahari leaves a mate and a son.
Male lions rarely live past the age of 12 in the wild, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington. In zoos, they may live into their late teens or early 20s. The San Diego Zoo says the oldest lion lived to be 30.
Lions, which go by the scientific name Panthera leo, are a vulnerable species, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The rating is one step above that of endangered.
Found in African and Asian subspecies, wild lions number 23,000 to 39,000, nearly all in Africa.