Ayush, a lion whose roar reverberated around the zoo, breathed his last early Tuesday.
Ayush died of old age, zoo veterinarian Jacob Alexander said.
The infirm lion had been living in an enclosure at the zoo hospital for the past three years.
In recent days, it was finding it difficult to get up and walk. Limb massage and infrared heat were used to provide him relief. Then, three weeks ago, he stopped roaring. After he found it difficult to eat, forceps were used to put food inside his month. Two days ago, he stopped eating and was on fluids since.
The zoo authorities had posted keepers to watch over him at night. Around 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Ayush was reported dead.
The post-mortem found multi-organ failure to be the cause of death. He was later cremated.
Ayush had been taken ill a number of times during his life. One serious illness he faced was septicemia, but he managed to recover from it. Later, paralysis struck, and it was decided to retain him at the zoo hospital instead of returning him to the enclosure. Physiotherapy was given to him inside the enclosure, recalls Dr. Alexander. One of the most challenging things was to trim his nails so that they did not pierce his paws. “He had to be anaesthetised so that his nails could be trimmed.”
There is some confusion about Ayush’s age, as well as when he was brought to the city zoo from the Vandalur zoo in Chennai, but he is definitely more than 20 years, says Dr. Alexander.
Ayush and a lioness Aishwarya had been brought from Vandalur. Aishwarya died in 2017 of cancer. Ayush and Aishwarya’s offspring Gracy remains at the zoo, in the company of recent arrivals Leo and Nayla. Akash, Ayush’s male offspring, is at the Thrissur zoo.
