US milk powder for lion cubs at Rohtak zoo

Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service
Rohtak, January 21

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Three lion cubs, two female and one male, abandoned by their parents after birth at the Pipli zoo, are being reared at Rohtak zoo with utmost care and devotion. Geeta, Sudha and Arjun are doing well, say zoo officials. They have been there since more than a year. Asiatic lions Geet and Sakshi were brought to Pipli from Junagarh. They gave birth to five cubs in June 2018 but only three survived. The couple abandoned the cubs and they were sent to the Rohtak zoo. “This is perhaps the first time in India that abandoned cubs have been successfully hand-reared,” said Deepak Alwadhi, Divisional Wildlife Officer.

“The cubs were initially fed on powdered milk procured from the US with composition similar to that of cat’s milk. After a few months, we started giving them minced chicken meat with milk,” the officer added.