Africa Alive: Lions to move to Whipsnade Zoo after enclosure damaged

Five lions from a zoo damaged during Storm Eunice have been moved to another animal park while their enclosure is repaired.

The animals from Africa Alive at Kessingland near Lowestoft, Suffolk, are now at Whipsnade Zoo.

The Bedfordshire zoo's lion habitat closed in January after keepers had to put its remaining two lions to sleep.

Africa Alive said it was "incredibly grateful" to Whipsnade for "stepping in and helping us in our hour of need".

The Suffolk zoo is currently closed after a number of trees were felled by high winds during Friday's storm, which brought down the lion enclosure fencing.

The Zoological Society of East Anglia (ZSEA) announced it would be relocating the lions while the fencing is replaced.

The male lions Zero, Tor and Jabu and lionesses Mo and Kaya will stay at Whipsnade Zoo until May.

ZSEA chief executive office, Claudia Roberts, said: "We are incredibly grateful to ZSL Whipsnade Zoo for stepping in and helping us in our hour of need and agreeing to take care of the lions while their enclosure at Africa Alive is fixed.

"Both teams have been working intensively over the past few days to ensure the welfare and safety of the pride and I would like to thank all those involved in making this happen."

Veteran lioness Sarabi, who was 16 ,was put to sleep on Wednesday after a period of several months of ill health.

Head of living collections, Graeme Williamson, said: "Given Sarabi's age and her health condition, the animal management team at Africa Alive, with support from the vet, all agreed that the kindest and most compassionate thing to do, was to sadly put her to sleep."

The venue added that it hoped it would reopen this weekend after the lions had been relocated.

Whipsnade Zoo announced in January that its lion habitat was closed for "the first time in decades" after it euthanised two African lions, Kia and Max, as they "were succumbing to a number of age-related conditions".

It followed the death of the pair's sibling Neo in November.

Zoological manager Matthew Webb said Whipsnade was "very glad" to be able to help ZSEA and was "really looking forward to getting to know the new pride during their stay".

"Our expert team of keepers and vets are working hard to ensure that Zero, Tor, Jabu, Mo and Kaya are settled and content, and the team at Africa Alive will be giving us lots of information about their likes, dislikes and daily routine so that they feel right at home here."

It said visitors would be able to see the pride in Whipsnade Zoo's African lion habitat from Thursday.

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