Lionessgives birth to four cubs; two of them die

A lioness gave birth to four cubs, three females and one male, in a wildlife sanctuary in Gujarat, but two of them died later, a forest official said on Friday.

The lioness, Sarita - kept at the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary in Porbandar district under a lion gene pool project - gave birth to the cubs in the wee hours of August 21, D T Vasavada, chief conservator of forest (Saurashtra), told PTI over the phone.

However, the male cub and one of the female cubs died due to weakness on Thursday, he said.

"Sarita was found to be weak and was not in a position to feed her newborn cubs for 12 hours," Vasavada said.

Veterinary doctors and officials from the Sakkarbaug Zoo at Junagadh checked their health and gave them powdered milk, he said.

However, two of them could not survive, the official said, adding their carcasses have been sentto the zoo's hospital for postmorterm.

The other two cubs are in good health, he said.

The chief conservator of forest said this was second time in less than five months that Sarita has given birth to cubs in the sanctuary.

The lioness had given birth to two cubs on April1, but both of them later died, Vasavada said.

The sanctuary currently has two lions - Avon and Nagraj - and as many lionesses - Sarita and Parvati, he said.

Sometime ago, Parvati had also given birth to a cub which was later shifted to the Sakkarbaug Zoo, Vasavada said.