By Neeraj Bajpai
She is young and beautiful.She is trying to gain weight for last one month to win over enraged mother who
had abandoned her and refused breastfeeding as she was unlucky underweight at time
of birth.
But now,she is in company
of a stuffed toy, purposefully gifted to ward of loneliness. she plays with stuffed towys- a white tiger and a leopard. Her special diet
is flown from America to Kanpur, infamous as the dust bowl of Uttar Pradesh.Within
a span of a month, she has won over hearts of many in the city’s sprawling zoological
garden with captivating charms of twinkling eyes ,baby whiskers and cushy paws.
Lured by her looks,
wild life authorities fondly call her " Sundari". She was given birth
on April 10 , this year by lioness Nandini who had mated with fierce Ajay,king of jungles from Raipur in sprawling green confines. Soon
after birth in a zoo enclosure,Sundari was deserted by mother who chose not to rear the weak and diseased cub. Her other sibling died after a day while another was still born.The fourth cub,delivered by the lactating mother next day, was
also still born.
Envisioning bleak prospects of survival of the
virtually orphaned cub, vets adopted her and started feeding manually six times
a day. She was given baby care and fed with kids’ milk bottles.
( Dr RK Singh feeding the cub in Kanpur zoo)
( Dr RK Singh feeding the cub in Kanpur zoo)
Normally, lion cubs
weigh around 1200 gms at time of birth and if it is less than that mother lioness
abandon them rather carrying forward sickly off springs. At time of birth Sundari
was only 840 gms .
"
An atmosphere of joy is palpable among vets Dr RK Singh,U.C. Srivastava ad Nasir
and others over their successful efforts
to save an endangered animal at the cost of less than one thousand US
dollars so far.
Zoo Director Deepak Kumar is evincing personal
interest to save the endangered animal .Blood
serum from her mother is also injected to strengthen immune system of the cub
waging relentless battle of survival .
A special enclosure is fabricated to keep
growing up cub before she is transferred to her parents ‘commodious enclosure.
( Sketch by Neeraj Bajpai )
Excellent article
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