The animal keeper is looking after the lion cub and nurtures them properly for 6 months as the lion is not showing interest after giving birth in Nandankanan zoo. Asiatic lioness Bijli, 4 years old, delivered 3 cubs last year on July 21. The first cub is stillborn after the one male and the female cub. The nine hours old cubs were not seen suckling the lioness even mother was not keenly interested in her cubs. 

The lioness’ first cub was dead 36 hours before then after she delivered stillborn. The death of her first cub is also the reason behind not having an interest in other cubs and no experience of nurturing the cubs, said Sanjeet Kumar, deputy director of Nandankanan Zoologica.

The male cub died instead of the utmost care so they became alert to take care of two other cubs properly. To give the rest of the two cubs proper care, zoo authorities of Gir National Park, Junagadh zoo in Gujarat, decided to discuss things with the health committee. The rearing was tough for them as the cubs were deprived of colostrums milk. Kumar mentioned, “Rooms were properly sanitized and other measures have also taken into consideration for the well being and the safety of the cubs”. 

The animal keeper Prasanta Goud is looking after the cubs perfectly and feeding the milk to the cubs every two hours. She has also been following the Covid 19 protocols for the best safety of the cubs from infections. 

Prashanta also mentioned that she had the prior experience of nurturing the cubs superbly and she has not even visited her home to take care of the cubs with perfection. She loves to see the happy faces and healthy cubs around. She had also hand-reared the Kalpana lion cub, tiger cub, and a few bear cubs in the zoo.