GERMANY: Lion cub whose mother died during a cesarean is cared for at eastern Eberswalder zoo

She might not be 'born free' but like her famous colleague 'Elsa' little lioness Kismet (meaning "Hope" in Arabic) is being raised by humans since her mother died having a caesarian delivery. Sadly, Kismet's mother had accidentally smothered her firstborn cub. Kismet is now dependent on Uwe Fanke, zoo keeper in charge of carnivores at Eberswalder zoo, where the little furry cub had its first appearance in front of a live audience on Wednesday (June 21). At only five weeks of age; Kismet is already a charmer, elating visitors of all ages at the zoo in the East German town of Eberswalde. While still a baby, Kismet is being fed a specially mixed formula milk- but also is getting her teeth into 100 to 200 grams of beef, as Uwe Fanke explains. So far, the cub has been very sociable and cuddly, but there is not way of telling if she will remain that way when grows older. "The bond with the cat will stay for a lifetime. Whether this physical contact with her will be possible in the future depends on her development of character. Depending on differences in character it is possible for cats to remain quite cuddly, so direct contact might still be possible. Others tend to become quite brutish so a decision has to be made", Uwe Fanke explained. Fanke, being mother and father to little Kismet, has to feed her every three hours. As soon as the baby lion hears the sound of the milk bottle being rattled, she comes running. "She is acting rather normal, luckily she cannot climb the walls yet which wouldn't be unusual for a domestic cat. So the damage is still within limits," he said smiling. ENDS.

ITN Source | June 23, 2006

Tags:. .possible. .mother. .might. .acting. .whether