The search for lionesses born in the wild for the two bachelor lions Sultan and Simba of Etawah Safari Park in Uttar Pradesh is on in full swing so that both of them can be mated. The wait for Sultan and Simba, who have become capable of breeding at the age of four, to start a family is getting longer. Now the Etawah Safari management has sought permission from the Central Zoo Authority to bring lionesses from Junagadh’s Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden in Gujarat. All the young lionesses in Etawah Safari are sisters of these two.
According to a report in the English newspaper The Times of India, the Safari management is trying to keep the gene diversity of the lions in Etawah, so they want to bring such lionesses from Gujarat who were born in the jungle. Anil Patel, director of Etawah Lion Safari, told the newspaper that he has requested the Central Zoo Authority to allow him to bring such lionesses who have not been bred and born in the zoo. The cubs born from breeding the lions born in Etawah Safari with the lionesses born in the jungle will have different genes from the rest.
The Safari management plans to bring the lionesses from Gujarat and keep them in the same enclosure with the lion separated by nets. If both develop a feeling of love for each other, then both of them will walk together across the nets in the enclosure. This will indicate that these two can become a pair. If no such indication is found, then either the lion or the lioness will be replaced.
Sultan and Simba are the first generation lions of Etawah Safari. Nine lions were born in Etawah in the first generation, out of which two could not survive. There is a risk of diseases due to breeding among lions in the safari, so the management wants to bring lionesses from outside for Sultan and Simba. The sisters of these two have got a lion named Kanha brought from Gujarat, due to which four lions of the second generation have been born in the safari.