ZooDoo Wildlife Park White Lions Born at ZooDoo

Astrobird

Astrobird

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Zoodoo's newest little white lions come out into the light | The Mercury

FOUR white lion cubs born at Richmond early this month are thriving.

Born on January 13, the cubs have only just opened their eyes and are showing rapid weight gain.

They are the second litter born to Zoodoo's four-year-old white lioness Kiara and male Bakari.

The sexes of the cubs will be known in the next week or so.

Yesterday Zoodoo staff took over Kiara's role of caring for the cubs and will be providing them with two-hour surveillance, feeding and cleaning.

By removing the cubs and hand raising them, they gain a bond with their keepers and become comfortable around humans.

"Hand raising these four lion cubs means that the cubs will not fear humans, nor will they be stressed in their captive environments, frantically trying to escape," Zoodoo owner Trevor Cuttriss said
The lion cubs will be named in coming weeks.

"Like their parents and siblings they will be given traditional Swahili names," Mr Cuttriss said.

emma.hope@news.com.au
 
and another article about them

Zoodoo’s white lion cubs now almost four months old | The Mercury

LAUNCESTON animal lover Karen MacFarlane yesterday got the chance to get up close and personal with Zoodoo’s four youngest white lion cubs and she was thrilled by the experience.

Ms MacFarlane is one of thousands of big-cat fans who have travelled to the Richmond wildlife attraction since the newest cubs were born in January.

The four cubs are now almost four months old and weigh about 15kg, the size of a small dog.

“There was a huge spike in interest when they were born and it has continued,” Zoodoo’s Trevor Cuttriss said yesterday.

“They certainly are a crowd puller.”

The cubs will get a spiky mane at about 18 months old and eventually the Tasmanian-born quartet will leave the state to help preserve the species.
Mr Cuttriss said there were now only about 270 while lions in the world and about half were past breeding age.

Ms MacFarlane was at Zoodoo with her mother when she was called out of the audience for a special one-on-one with the cubs.

“We came down last year to see the other cubs, which are now much more grown up, and really wanted to catch these ones while they were still little,” Ms MacFarlane said.

“I was very lucky to be able to be given such a great experience this time round.”

Born on January 13, the cubs are named Jabari (meaning fearless and brave) and Kibwana (Prince) and the two girls, Gimbya (Princess) and Jaja (respected).

The cubs are the second litter to be born to Zoodoo’s four-year-old white lioness Kiara and male Bakari.

The cubs have been hand-raised so they are comfortable around humans.
 
and another article about them being named

Now we know who's who of the white lion cubs in Richmond's Zoodoo | The Mercury

INSTEAD of calling the white lion cubs at Zoodoo Wildlife Park cute or beautiful they can now be referred to by their names -- Zuri and Araali, chosen by two Mercury readers.

The cubs have traditional Swahili names like their parents.

Araali means "strength of thunder" and Zuri means "excellent", "beautiful" and "handsome".

Their father's name, Bakari, translates to "big and strong", while mum Kiara means "little lioness".

Jasmine Potter said she chose Zuri because it was the most appropriate name for the cub's look and personality.

"I tried to think of names that would suit, like strong and precious, and I looked all of them up and found Zuri," she said.

Ms Potter said she had taken a keen interest in the rare lions, born at Zoodoo, at Richmond, nine weeks ago.

"I love animals and the little lions are just adorable," she said.

Nikki Ellis said she saw Araali among a list of Swahili words on the internet.

"I thought 'strength of thunder' was appropriate," Ms Ellis said.

"The cubs will grow up to be big, strong lions one day."

Ms Ellis said she had fallen in love with the little cubs the minute she laid eyes on them.

"What's not to love, they're beautiful. For something so rare to be born in Tasmania, is fantastic," she said.
 
White Lions.....

More unnecessary hand rearing and spurious 'conservation'.
 
Astrobird said:
Zoodoo's newest little white lions come out into the light | The Mercury

By removing the cubs and hand raising them, they gain a bond with their keepers and become comfortable around humans.

"Hand raising these four lion cubs means that the cubs will not fear humans, nor will they be stressed in their captive environments, frantically trying to escape,"

emma.hope@news.com.au
Click to expand...

I had always wondered about this zoo and from these comments l have to assume they have no idea about what's best for the animal!

1/So the lion parents miss out on the enrichment of raising young.
2/ when the lions are no longer cute/safe they will be abandoned to live out their life without the human contact experienced in their first years of life "stressed in their Captive environment "
3/ hopefully it won't happen but if one of them instinctively reacts and hurts a keeper or visitor........

Okay that's my rave but seriously disappointed was hopeful on this place till now....
 
Yes sadly management practices are questionable at ZooDoo..... considering some of their senior staff come from Cairns Wildlife Safari Reserve, one might have expected them to know better about pulling cubs for no reason other then "cub experiences"
 
I used to be in the camp of "I hate white tigers" but now I'm more on the side of "if they can be used for conservation purposes [e.g. as at Dreamworld] then that's all good" (obviously the caveat there is that in most zoos white tigers aren't serving any such purpose). With white lions I wasn't as down on them as with white tigers because they aren't all hideous mutant cross-breeds, even if generally they are intentionally inbred. I think they can be good for zoos, especially smaller zoos to bring in the customers.

However, I hate blatant misrepresentations and excuses, and those articles have two appalling statements (assuming they are literal quotes and not journalistic ones), namely "Hand raising these four lion cubs means that the cubs will not fear humans, nor will they be stressed in their captive environments, frantically trying to escape" (WTF???) and "...the Tasmanian-born quartet will leave the state to help preserve the species. Mr Cuttriss said there were now only about 270 while lions in the world ..."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top