Lucknow #Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s dream Lion Safari project received a big jolt on Sunday when lion ‘Vishnu’ breathed its last after a prolonged illness.
Vishnu is the second lion safari feline that died in a little more than two weeks time after the death of lioness Lakshmi on October 30. Lakshmi had died of a cardiac failure.
According to officials, the lioness died after being under medical care for last one and a half month during which it had refused to eat and had restricted movement. The post-mortem report was awaited to ascertain the exact cause of the death.
The lion pair ‘Vishnu’ and ‘Lakshmi’ was shifted from Kanpur Zoo to Lion Safari in Etawah on October 10 after being shifted from Hyderabad last year. Soon the pair developed symptoms of paralysis, but no one, not even the veterinary experts could find the actual reason during the treatment at the breeding centre.
Reports said that the pair got injured while being shifted from Kanpur zoo. They, according to reports, suffered from multiple infections, including a viral disease. The veterinarians and experts from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly and Mathura Veterinary College had been roped in and doctors from Kanpur and Lucknow zoos had been camping in the safari for the past one and a half month to treat the lion pair.
The state government even sought help from London’s Zoo Society and the Born Free Foundation, UK, but they failed to save the two lions.
