Practical Insights on Hand Rearing of an Abandoned Lion Cub (Panthera leo persica; Meyer, 1826) at North Bengal Wild Animals Park, Siliguri, West Bengal, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54536/jwc.v1i1.5394Keywords:
Asiatic Lion Cub, Hand-Rearing, Wildlife Management, ZooAbstract
Apart from serving as recreational centres, zoological parks in India today have become a cornerstone of ex-situ wildlife conservation through their research, education, rescue, animal rehabilitation services and hand-rearing facilities for abandoned or orphaned wild animal infants. Hand-rearing is a delicate, time- and labour-consuming process that may be required during maternal rejection, inadequate lactation, diseases or neonatal susceptibility. This article presents a successful case of hand-rearing of an abandoned Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) male cub at North Bengal Wild Animals Park, Siliguri, India. The protocol followed involved gradual diet modifications based on the nutritional requirements of the cub, close health surveillance, proper hygiene maintenance, behavioural observation, and systemic enrichments. The scientific husbandry management, development and growth rate of the cub, health challenges encountered, and the strategic handling of those challenges have been documented.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Nick Doley, Prishka Pariyar, E Vijayakumar, Abhishek Chowdhury, Upashna Rai, Sudeb Sarkar, Biswajeet Sarkar
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