Kivú in the picture
Lion Kivú’s death surprised some authorities that in the last days noticed a little improvement in its health.
According to Bernardo Jaén, director of the National Animal Health Service (SENASA), the feline consumed liquids in the last hours and it was in a better mood.
Since Kivu was almost 19 years old, he surpassed the life expectancy of an animal of its kind in freedom that ranges from 10 to 14 years.
The official explained that the agony of the animal lasted five hours and he was already studying the decision of a death-drug injection:
We were prepared, we had made the decision that in the case of being near the death on Saturday, we were going to help it with a painless physician-assisted death,
added Jaén.
The lion’s body is at the pathology laboratory of the National University’s veterinary medicine school, where authorities will perform a necropsy to determine whether, in addition to the kidney failure, it had a related cause of death.
Doctor Mauricio Jiménez, director of the veterinary center, informed through the press office that the results of the post-mortem examination will be ready by mid-week.
The future of Kivú’s remains is uncertain, the Conservation Areas System will decide whether to bury the body, deliver it for research or mount it, as happened to Kariba,its sister, that died of cancer in 2011 and whose body is exhibited at the zoo where they lived.