African lioness in Nandankanan Zoo dies due to old-age-related complications

Bhubaneswar: Binni, the lone lioness of African species in Nandankanan Zoo of Bhubaneswar, died this evening due to old-age-related complications, the zoo authorities informed.

“With Binni’s death, the zoo lost its lone lioness of African species,” a spokesperson of the zoo said.

Binni was 17 years old and was not keeping well for the last few weeks. The lioness was brought to Nandankanan in 2015 from a zoo in Israel’s Tel Aviv along with three other animals. The Big Cat was then eight years old and was brought under an animal exchange programme.

Worth mentioning, Nandankanan Zoo presently has at least 21 African and Asiatic lions.

Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) is a 437-hectare (1,080-acre) zoo and a botanical garden in Odisha. Established in 1960, it was opened for public visit in 1979 and became the first ever zoo in India to join the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) in 2009.