White lion cub dies after 13 days in intensive care at animal hospital

A white lion cub born inside Nature Park, a zoo in Daegu, to a pair of white lions, Lea and Leo, rescued last year from a dilapidated indoor zoo that shut down [NATURE PARK]

 
A white lion cub under intensive care died at 6 a.m. Monday inside an incubator at an animal hospital in Jung District, Daegu. The cub, which was born at less than half the expected weight of a cub and suffering from pneumonia, lived only 13 days.
 
The head caretaker, who had watched over the cub around the clock with veterinarians, lamented, “We couldn’t even give it a proper name.”
 

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The cub was the youngest of three siblings born to a pair of white lions rescued last year from an underground indoor zoo. In May 2023, Nature Park, a zoo in Gachang-myeon, Dalseong County, Daegu, acquired the pair — a female named Lea and a male named Leo — from an indoor zoo in Suseong District that shut down amid financial difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving animals neglected.
 
For more than seven years, the lions lived cut off from the outside world in an eight-square-meter (86-square-foot) basement enclosure, surrounded by glass. On June 17, 2024, they were moved to an outdoor enclosure of 486 square meters with shelter from sun and rain and indoor heating and cooling systems.
 
Keepers recalled the lions’ bewildered faces when they first felt sunlight. On a rainy day, Nature Park remarked, “The lions are experiencing wind, soil and grass for the first time and are now adjusting to the rain.”
 
Under careful care, the pair regained their health and gave birth to three cubs at 1 p.m. on Aug. 18. The first, a male cub, weighed 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds). The second, a female cub, weighed one kilogram (2.2 pounds). Both were relatively healthy.
 

A male white lion is anesthetized for movement inside an indoor zoo enclosure in Suseong District, Daegu on June 17, 2024. [YONHAP]

 

A white lion transferred from an indoor zoo in Suseong District takes its first steps into the outdoor enclosure at Nature Park in Dalseong County, Daegu on June 17, 2024. [YONHAP]

 
However, Lea rejected her offspring, and keepers stepped in with hand-rearing, judging that she had lost maternal instinct. In 2022 and 2023, the pair also gave birth at the indoor zoo, but all the cubs died.
 
“After they’re weaned, we’ll move them to solid food and then raw meat,” said zookeeper Jeon Geun-bae. “Their immune systems are weak, so we can’t present them to the public yet. We’re focusing all efforts on care.”
 
The indoor zoo where the lions were once held had faced repeated abuse reports for failing to feed animals properly. In November 2023, police and Daegu city officials conducted a joint inspection and found fennec foxes, hyenas, gibbons and ring-tailed lemurs in poor conditions, and even discovered a dead guinea pig.
 
The zoo’s operating company later filed for bankruptcy. The court-appointed trustee seized the animals for auction, but the first sale failed. Nature Park then purchased 324 animals for 131 million won ($94,160) in May last year, skipping procedural delays typically used to lower purchase prices.
 

Ring-tailed lemurs rescued from a closed zoo, now living at Nature Park, are seen in this photo provided by Nature Park [NATURE PARK]

 
The zoo said it made the purchase to quickly move the animals into better living conditions, emphasizing that the decision reflected both corporate social responsibility and a commitment to animal welfare.
 
Besides the white lions, Nature Park also cares for a porcupine that lost its eyesight and a raccoon, an invasive species once at risk of euthanasia. It has created a 991-square-meter ring-tailed lemur forest designed to resemble natural habitats, where three new lemur cubs have since been born.
 
Still, not all rescues succeeded. A penguin once found in a bathroom at the indoor zoo died of underlying lung and heart conditions a month after being transferred.
 
“As much as the animals have received attention, we are working to help them regain their health and adapt,” said Son In-jae, head of animal care at Nature Park. “Once the lion cubs grow stronger, we’ll help them restore social behaviors so they can live together with their peers.”
 


This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAEK KYUNG-SEO [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]