‘Improper’ Care: Lioness dies

BAHAWALPUR: A 26-year-old lioness, Poami, died at the Bahawalpur Zoo on Thursday. Zoo caretaker, Muhammad Iqbal, said that the lioness had been unwell for five months. Poami was the oldest lioness at the zoo and had given birth to 10 cubs. Iqbal said that she could not eat proper food due to her illness and was fed milk most of the time. She had been under the treatment of Dr Fiazul Haq. A worker at the zoo, seeking anonymity, said that meat supplied for animal food at the zoo was not quality meat. He speculated that the lioness had died from poor care.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2011.