Lioness Kills Father of Her 3 Cubs at Indianapolis Zoo

A lioness killed the father of her three cubs earlier this week at the Indianapolis Zoo in an incident that has left the zoo's staff devastated and baffled by the killing.

According to a statement issued by the zoo on Friday, shortly before the zoo opened Monday morning, staff were alerted to something wrong because of "an unusual amount of roaring" coming from the lion's pen. When staff arrived to investigate the disturbance, they saw that the 12-year-old female lion Zuri had gotten into a a fight with the 10-year-old male lion Nyack.

"Zoo personnel made every effort to separate the lions, but Zuri held Nyack by the neck until he stopped moving," the zoo said in a statement issued on Friday. "We know many people loved visiting Nyack. He was a magnificent male lion and left his legacy in his three cubs." 

The two animals had been housed together for eight years, producing three cubs together zoo officials said. There were no previous incidents of aggression between the two lions according to logs kept by the staff. 

Zoo veterinary staff performed a necropsy and found that Nyack died of suffocation from injuries to his neck.

The Indianapolis Zoo posted a statement to their Facebook page, saying they appreciated the support from the community as the zoo's staff deals with the loss. 

Our Zoo family is sad to announce that 10-yr-old male African lion Nyack has died. Earlier this week he was injured during a physical incident with female lion Zuri. We will conduct a thorough review to attempt to understand what may have led to this. Zuri and the other three lions are all ok. Zuri and Nyack had three cubs together three years ago. Nyack was a magnificent lion and he will be greatly missed. We appreciate the support from our community as we cope with the loss.

The Indianapolis Zoo says they will investigate the incident and there are no plans to change how they manage the lions in their care. 


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