Lion introduction goes wrong at Franklin Park Zoo
Posted by Anon on Thu 3 Jan 2002 - 02:24
Binti Mafuta, a lone female lioness at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston was killed on November 16th in a rather gruesome turn of events when introducing a new male lion to the zoo. In only four minutes, the male lion had managed to lunge at the elderly female, pierce her windpipe, and choke the lioness to death.
To add to this, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has just cut Zoo New England's budget about 25% in order to cope with costs brought on by a slowing economy and extra funding needed for security due to September 11th expenses.
Visit the Boston Globe for more information. You can also help the park by visiting Zoo New England and supporting the park financially.
Comments
This is terrible for the lioness and terrible for the zoo, but it is quite the reminder that wild animals are wild animals, no matter how much we humans interfere. I do feel badly for the lioness, though.
Comic ~ Deer Me
Seeing that it is not stated in the article it sounds like they added a lion with out having them first introduced with a barrier inbetween them first to see if they were compatible. This is either poor keeper or management decision. With this being an older lioness it would be understandable that a lion would not see her as a mate or a pride member.
It is actually covered by the article - the zoo has done basically everything you were supposed to do when introducing two lions. The end of the article shows that other zoos were writing condolences and saying there was nothing more that Franklin Park could have done.
If nothing else, the keepers and zoologists at Zoo New England are knotch. I'm sure they're all feeling horrible about the whole thing.
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