SUAMICO (NBC 26) — Anga the African lioness arrived at the N.E.W. Zoo in Suamico from Zoo Knoxville on Friday. The three-year-old has been recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to breed with Loid the lion.
- See pictures of Anga from the van ride she took to Suamico
- Zoo Director Carmen Murach says African lions are endangered because of loss of their habitat
- Because of the lack of habitat, the zoo doesn't plan to release any cubs Anga and Loid may have into the wild
- The zoo's Cat-Convention for conservation is happening in August to help raise funds for conservation of cat species
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story with additional details for the web)
Friday, a way for the zoo to help save an endangered species arrived in Suamico. I'm your Suamico neighborhood reporter Pari Apostolakos and I learned all about Anga the African lioness on the day she moved in.
Watch Pari Apostolakos' full broadcast story here:
After the death of his 20-year-old mate in February, Loid the lion at the Northeastern Wisconsin Zoo now has someone to keep him company.
"Anga the African lion arrived just this morning," zoo director Carmen Murach said.
Arriving in a van from Zoo Knoxville in Tennessee, Anga, whose name means "sky" in Swahili, is three years old.
Anga comes with a recommendation to breed with Loid from the species survival program through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
"All the A.Z.A. zoos work together to make sure that, you know, we don't end up with the lions across the country all being related to one another," Murach said.
Raised by humans after her mother went through a traumatic birth, Murach says Anga is known to be social.
I tried calling her out of her enclosure Friday afternoon, but she was feeling a little shy.
"We're excited to come back and see her," Zoo visitor Ben Carlson said after realizing Anga was settling in to the N.E.W. Zoo from her indoor habitat.
For now, staff are keeping a little distance between Anga and Loid until she's adjusted to her new home.
"They're not at the stage yet where they're nose to nose with just one thing of fencing between the two of them," Murach said. "That's the next step, so we'll hopefully get to that quickly."
Anga had a birth control implant placed while living with her brother at her Zoo Knoxville. The implant expires after about a year, and Murach says zoo staff plan to let the implant expire rather than remove it with an invasive surgery.
In the event Anga does eventually have cubs, Murach says lion pregnancies last just three months. As a first time mom, Anga would likely have one or two cubs.
"Being able to just come on a Tuesday and see lions in almost your backyard is a pretty rare thing," Carlson said while visiting the zoo with his daughter. "So we're excited to have this here."
Zoo staff say a portion of admission fees goes to the SAFE African Lion program, a conservation effort to protect lions and their habitats.
