This story is from April 19, 2022

Sibling cubs add charm, Etawah Lion Safari logs in higher footfall and earnings

Bharat, Rupa and Sona have set the Etawah lion safari roaring with their sibling rivalry and revelry. Born to the lioness Jessica, the three one-year-olds are the first of the lions to be out in the public area of the safari after much training and rehearsals going on since October.
Sibling cubs add charm, Etawah Lion Safari logs in higher footfall and earnings
Lucknow: Bharat, Rupa and Sona have set the Etawah lion safari roaring with their sibling rivalry and revelry. Born to the lioness Jessica, the three one-year-olds are the first of the lions to be out in the public area of the safari after much training and rehearsals going on since October.
Joining them soon in the safari area will be Sultan and Simba, another sibling pair named by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple.
One of the ambitious projects of the Akhilesh Yadav government that could not be inaugurated in his tenure, the safari is slowly gaining on both footfalls and popularity. In the last financial year, the safari earned over Rs 1.5crore despite the restrictions due to pandemic. “At present, the footfall is less because of the weather but we have tourists coming almost all the year round now,” said director Shesh Narayan Mishra. At present, the lions do not roam over a huge area and their movement is limited to only 3.5 hectare as the three are still very young and ensuring their safety is of prime importance. There is a fence that separates the lions from the visitors’ area. During lunch hours and at night, the three are called back to their enclosures.
When the safari administration had released the trio in the open in October, they were trained to human presence around them. The three siblings were compatible and that made it easy for the administration to put them in the safari area together. But the three have still to learn a lot as they will be facing visitors almost every day.
At the same time, the administration will keep monitoring their behaviour as they are still juveniles. The safari was opened for the public in November 2019 with the bear and antelope safaris. Very soon, it will also have a leopard safari.
The lion segment of the safari could be opened only after the administration urged the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to relax the norms that it had set for the Etawah safari which was having at least 10 lion cubs to open it.
At present, the Etawah Safari has seven cubs of varying age and 11 adults which are lodged in the animal houses. The lion safari’s total area of 50 hectare is divided into two parts of 27 hectare and 23 hectare, separated by a ‘nullah’. The cubs will be released gradually in both parts.
As per experts in the Gir National Park, lions born to the same mother mostly do not mate. Moreover, the ones not born to the same mother but brought up together also are unlikely to form a pair.
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