Re -Train Your Brain To Happiness: Lion Cub Triplets Raise Hope for The Endangered Asiatic Lion: Now Copenhagen Zoo Kills Other Lions!

About the clip:

The Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) or Indian Lion is a subspecies of the lion.

The only place in the wild where the lion is found, is in the Gir Forest of Gujarat, India. The Asiatic lion is one of the five major big cats found in India, the others being the Bengal tiger, the Indian leopard, the snow leopard and clouded leopard. The Asiatic lions once ranged from the Mediterranean to the north-eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent, but excessive hunting, water pollution and decline in natural prey reduced their habitat.

This footage is part of the professionally-shot stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia.

The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and Digital Betacam. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.

Now, triplets born at a French Zoo to bolster the current numbers.Good news!

The cubs were born on December 30 in a zoo attached to the natural history museum in Besancon, eastern France.

“These births raise hopes for the survival of this endangered species,’’ the zoo’s veterinarian Melanie Berthet said.

According to the museum, there are only 350 Asiatic lions left in the wild, all of them living in the Gir forest in India’s western Gujarat state.

“There are 56 zoos across the world which have Asiatic Lions but only eight of them are in a position to breed,’’ Ms Berthet added.

The latest arrivals’ eight-year-old mother, Shiva, was born in the same zoo. The father, Tejas, was born in Bristol in Britain five years ago.

The two lions were paired last year and Shiva gave birth to a first female cub in August.

Ms Berthet said the mother was “raising the new cubs brilliantly’’.

The father was being kept at a distance but was able to smell and see them and appeared to have accepted them.

She said the father would only be allowed to come into direct contact with the cubs in a month’s time as there was still a risk that he could attack them.

Listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, the Asiatic lion (panthera leo persica) was once widely distributed across southwest Asia.

Picture: Endangered Asiatic lion Shiva with her three cubs at France’s Besancon zoo.

With thanks to The Australian

But this is truly barbaric! I am sure another zoo would have taken them!

Copenhagen zoo that killed giraffe puts down two lions and cubs

A COPENHAGEN zoo that prompted international outrage by putting down a healthy giraffe and dissecting it in public has killed two lions and their two cubs to make way for a new male, it says.

“Because of the pride of lions' natural structure and behaviour, the zoo has had to euthanise the two old lions and two young lions who were not old enough to fend for themselves,” Copenhagen Zoo said in a statement.

The 10-month-old lions “would have been killed by the new male lion as soon as he got the chance,” it said.

The four lions were put down on Monday after the zoo had failed to find a new home for them, a spokesman told AFP, confirming the four were all from the same family.

There would be no public dissection of the animals since “not all our animals are dissected in front of an audience,” he added. Within a few days the new male will be introduced to the zoo's two female lions who, born in 2012, have reached breeding age. “The zoo is recognised worldwide for our work with lions, and I am proud that one of the zoo's own brood now forms the centre of a new pride of lions,” chief executive Steffen Straede said.

Last month, zoo boss Bengt Holst received death threats for the decision to kill its 18-month-old giraffe Marius, which was put down with a bolt gun before children were able to watch it being chopped up, dissected and fed to lions.

The move shocked thousands of animal lovers around the world who had signed an online petition to save him.

The zoo said on its website it had no choice but to prevent the animal attaining adulthood since under European Association of Zoos and Aquaria rules, inbreeding between giraffes is to be avoided. Many Danes were surprised and even angered by international reactions to the event, with a leading expert on the ethics of the treatment of animals decrying the “Disneyfication” of zoo creatures.

The Copenhagen zoo that faced protests for killing a healthy giraffe to prevent inbreeding says it has put down four lions, including two cubs, to make room for a new male lion. Picture: AP Source: AP

(pay wall) From the Australian

Here are the slaughtered cubs - picture credit and more info - Yahoo: