The wildlife exchange programme would see the Lucknow Zoo receive an Asiatic lion from the Shri Venkateshwar Zoological Park in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
The Central Zoo Authority is still to give its final clearances, but the Lucknow Zoo officials have already received a no objection certificate (NOC) from Tirupati.
In the meantime, as part of the two-day celebrations of World Lion Day to be commemorated on Thursday, an awareness rally was held on Wednesday on the grounds of the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden.
One of the rally’s specialists addressed the attendees while clad in a lion costume about the lion’s habitat in the forest and its role in the food chain.
The lion Prithvi, who had been living at the Lucknow Zoo since 2015, has passed away.
Two Asiatic lions were brought from Rajkot Zoo to Lucknow in 2013, a 4-year-old lioness Hir and year and a half–old cub.
The male lion prince and lioness Shubhangi had been brought to Allahabad Zoo from Chandigarh Zoo in April 2003. Both of them are hybrids of Asiatic and African lions.
The ears of the male Asiatic lion are constantly visible because of the mild mane development on top of their heads. African lions have rounded ears, a black tail tuft, and scanty mane on the cheeks and throat.
Asiatic lions are restricted to the Gir national park, Gujarat. Asiatic lions and African lions are subspecies of the same species.
The Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park is situated in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, at the base of the Seshachalam hills. In terms of size, it is Asia’s largest zoological park. The zoo, which was founded in 1987, has 1254 hectares in the Tirupati Reserve Forest Extn. It is named after Tirumala Venkateswara temple’s presiding deity, Lord Venkateswara.