THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 10-year-old lion was brought to the city zoo from the lion safari park near the Neyyar Dam on Friday afternoon.

With this, the zoo now has three lionesses and a lone male. The arrival of the sterilised lion is, however, not likely to bring much cheer to the zoo as it will have no impact on the dormant breeding programme.

All lions at the Neyyar park were the offspring of lions taken there from the city zoo, zoo veterinarian C.S. Jayakumar said.

They were sterilised a couple of years ago following a directive from the Central Zoo Authority that lions of hybrid stock should not be allowed to breed.

The zoo was negotiating with the Vandallur zoo for the transfer of two males and two females that were in a condition to breed. Attempts were also being made to identify a ‘pure Asiatic’ male so that the gene pool of lions in the zoo could be spruced up, zoo officials said.

The newcomer male would initially be placed in a cage adjacent to the open enclosure for lions so that the resident females could get ‘acclimatised.’ Only later would the male be released with the females into the open enclosure, Mr. Jayakumar added.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/26/stories/2006082623030300.htm