Lions bring joy to zoo after loss of lioness

The arrival of three lions at a Suffolk zoo has brought joy after the loss of their beloved last lioness earlier this year.

Africa Alive has welcomed three new males who travelled 140 miles from Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire on Tuesday to begin a new pride at the park in Kessingland, near Lowestoft.

Bertie, Will and Mak are settling into their new habitat, which had been empty since the death of lioness Kaya in March.

Zoo director Ross Snipp said: "You don't get to do this every day so these moments are sort of career highlights. I've been as excited today as everyone else to see this and we can't wait for our guests to come and visit them."

The three lions, who were born at Whipsnade, near Dunstable, are brothers Will and Mac and their friend, Bertie.

Frankie Bleasdale Partridge, deputy animal manager at Africa Alive, said they all got along very well and had behaved brilliantly on their journey to Suffolk.

"They're quite a tight little trio," she said.

"They were very calm, so they didn't need to be sedated. Of course these are young lions and they were wondering what was going on, but they're now starting to explore the dens in their house.

"It's going to be exciting to watch them grow because they're still so young, small and naive."

Staff at the zoo were heartbroken when Kaya died in March, aged 17. She was born there in 2009.

Partridge said the new lions would bring a happy adjustment after "life without lions".

"It's been a little bit nerve-wracking, but we're happy they're here and we can't wait to go forward and see what they like to play with," she said.

The new arrivals are northern lions - different to the southern lions they had at the park before - and are part of a north African lion breeding programme.

Snipp said they had brought the lions to Suffolk because they were part of the zoo's long heritage.

"We've kept lions throughout most of our history," he said.

However, he added that conservation was also important.

"Sadly, lions are vulnerable in the wild and like all modern zoos we want to contribute to their breeding programmes," he added.

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