Asiastic Lions in Australia? » Western Plains Zoo

Asiastic Lions in Australia?
07-04-2008

I recall seeing Asiatic Lions at Western Plains Zoo in 2003-4, what happened to them? Did they die or were they moved to another facility? These are incredibly endangered and surely they would have tried to breed them there.

07-04-2008

That is not correct! I assume what you are recall seeing is hybrid Indian lions. Once the erstwhile programme for Asian lions had collapsed in the US and Europe, all zoos were left with hybrid worthless Asian lions. Zoos ended up phasing them out, neutering them or simply let them live out their lives. I think Taronga got hybrid Asian lions from Europe in the 1980's. With a longevity of 20-25 years, it is well possible that these survived into 2003-4. Perhaps the Oz members on the forum can fill you in when the last hybrid Asian lions died at Taronga.

07-04-2008

there were two or so at dubbo, I can't remember when I last saw them though. there were at that time no africans at dubbo. that's all I can give you.

07-04-2008

is this an old thread or a new one because i remember writing this recently. here goes again.
in the 1970s taronga had a pure Asiatic male. not sure what his fate was but at the time there were some pure Asian lions in a zoo in Kuala Lumpur.
in recent times hybrid lions were imported from the US. they were siblings and were here on trial as the SSP and EEP were restructured, with a long term view to Dubbo aligning itself with the Asian Lion program. However, this move was disbanded, probably due to the fact that African Lions existed in many zoos already and needed attention anyway. around the same time as all this was going on with the Asian Lions the African Lion population in Australian zoos had dropped and an initiative was taken up to boost numbers and revitalise the gene pool with imported stock.
this has worked and no Asian Lions, pure or hybrid remain anymore

07-04-2008

You're right glyn; I remember that single Asiatic male at Taronga in the 1970s.
He had the ridiculously inappropriate name of Simba! (God help us!) He was housed in a rather small cage, part of where the dholes are now. He was never used for breeding. What a waste.

I may have it wrong, but I think he had been the pet of some Aussie who was working in Asia (He was fairly tame when he was young, and used to go for walks on a leash until he got large and dangerous.)

no asian lions in the country
08-04-2008

At this point in time there are no asian lions in australia and haven't been for a long time. While working on the carnivore department at taronga i asked the same question, and at the time when dubbo were displaying "asian" lions it was actually unsure if they were or not, they were later confirmed to be african lions

08-04-2008

Is this true? They didn't look at all like africans to me

08-04-2008

This was quite a number of years ago, we're talking early 90's here.
They may have been hybrid's as i said was a long time since i've had to talk bout it

09-04-2008

they were hybrids - descended from the global "asian lion" stock that was found to be made up of hybrid african/asians after genetic studies overseas. it is my belief that the few animals that were found from these studies to be of purebred asian stock, were used to re-boot a new breeding program, one that fortunately we are not wasting our time with (we don't need two subspecies of lion in this country)..

11-04-2008

in the 1970s taronga had a pure Asiatic male. not sure what his fate was but at the time there were some pure Asian lions in a zoo in Kuala Lumpur.


According to a sign at the "National " Zoo ( or Zoo Negara ) at KL , they have Gir lions ( as part or all of their troop )

As I was not overly impressed with the zoo as a whole , I only took the information on the sign with a pinch of salt -- also , it was about that time that I was discovering more about the Taiping Zoo directors antics for myself

26-04-2008

I don't mean to reign on your parade but my parents were born in Malaysia and i've gone there quite a bit. The zoo's there aren't top notch yeah but if they manage to breed some animals they don't keep the animals at the zoos they deport them to good zoos. Melaka zoo isn't that bad i haven't gone there but most exhibits are made through actual forest but then agian they are better off in the wild. I must agree that Taiping zoo isn't ship shape. My auntie said when i went there that they haven't done any repairs in 40 years! But that was 8 years ago.
Between you and me Malaysia has a complicated status with animals. They protect animals and donate money to zoos but they root the system and take it back for some reason, i can't give you everything i might get arrested.

26-04-2008

that's right, the Malaysian authorities are reading this forum right now. They're probably planning a swoop of armed counter-terrorist agents even as we speak to arrest you and remove you from Australia back to Malaysia because of what you have already said. Run while you still can!

26-04-2008

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

27-04-2008

Thats right they did have a pure bred male, the plan at the time which I was told was to send him to join a group in Israel, I dont know if it was ever sent there

27-04-2008

There's a picture in the gallery labelled "Asiatic lion enclosure-Perth zoo 1987"
Was there even any Asian lions at perth zoo or is it wrongly labelled.