This story is from July 14, 2019

Another death at Etawah safari, Jessica loses cub

One of the four cubs birthed by Etawah Lion Safari lioness Jessica died due to dehydration on Friday, even before it could turn a month-old. The cub’s death is the sixth one to be reported at the safari since 2014. The casualty deals a blow to the safari’s plans to breed more lions and to help increase the number of big cats living in the state.
Another death at Etawah safari, Jessica loses cub
Lioness Jessica with her cubs
KANPUR: One of the four cubs birthed by Etawah Lion Safari lioness Jessica died due to dehydration on Friday, even before it could turn a month-old. The cub’s death is the sixth one to be reported at the safari since 2014. The casualty deals a blow to the safari’s plans to breed more lions and to help increase the number of big cats living in the state.
Brought in from Gir National Park in Gujarat in December 2015, Jessica had mated with one of the lions at the safari, Manan, three months ago and had given birth to the four cubs on June 26.

Officials said that the other three cubs appeared to be doing well and were feeding on their mother’s milk. A safari official said that this was first cub that Jessica lost since being shifted to Etawah.
“The cub was suffering from dehydration and had not been having its mother’s milk since the past few days. We had started treating the cub, but it continued to lose weight. On Friday evening, we noticed that the newborn was lying motionless. We separated the mother and the cub and found it to be dead. The cub weighed 800 gram at the time of death. Jessica had fed the ill cub milk till Friday noon. The other three cubs weighed around 2.40kg,” said director of Etawah Lion Safari Vinod Krishna Singh.
“A team of four veterinarians took the cub’s carcass to Bareilly’s Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) for an autopsy, which would ascertain the exact cause of death.”
A special team of safari doctors would be monitoring the other cubs’ health.
Earlier, Jessica had given birth to three cubs Sultan and Shimba, and Bahubali in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
The Etawah Lion Safari currently is home to four lions and two lionesses—Jessica and Heer—and three cubs—Sultan, Shimba and Bahubali.

The work on the safari started in 2005, but smooth way was paved in May 2013 after environmental clearances.
Since 2014, the safari has reported 10 deaths—two lions and three lionesses, and five cubs.
The decline in numbers started with the death of Laxmi and Vishnu in October and November 2014 respectively, followed by the demise of Tapasya and Kuber. Four cubs died in July 2015 soon after being born and another one died in August 2015.
Safari officials claimed that the four adult lions died of canine distemper. It is a kind of viral infection which also affects dogs.
Following the lion deaths, safari authorities launched a vaccination drive for stray and domestic dogs in nearby villages to check the spread of canine distemper.
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