Lioness in heat to be exiled from zoo

MONCTON, New Brunswick (UPI) -- A lioness in a Canadian zoo in New Brunswick will be moved after attacking a juvenile male who didn't understand her needs while she was in heat, the zoo says.

A spokesman for the Magnetic Hill Zoo in Moncton told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. 11-year-old Kito apparently didn't get over the death of her first male mate in January.

The zoo brought in two cubs, a male and a female, after the lion's death as companions. The male, named Azizi, wasn't sexually mature, although Kito didn't seem to understand each time she went into mating estrus, Bruce Dougan, general manager of the zoo told the CBC.

"When she did that she became frustrated with Azizi, who didn't know what his role was in that situation," Dougan said. "He was a very young male, and that frustration turned to anger and then aggression."

Despite hormonal treatments, Kito attacked Azizi, and once inflicted a serious rake-gash on the young lion's back.

The felines are now separated by a fence and the zoo is working at relocating the frustrated Kito back to her source facility in Ontario, the report said.



Copyright 2009 by United Press International

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