Now a lioness dies at Gazipur safari park

After the deaths of 11 zebras and a tiger last month, an African lioness died at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park in Gazipur's Sreepur yesterday.

Amir Hossain Chowdhury, chief conservator of forests (CCF), confirmed this to The Daily Star.

The 11-year-old lioness fell ill on August 11 last year. Since then, the animal was provided treatment by veterinary doctors from the safari park, National Zoo, Bangladesh Agriculture University, and Mymensingh Veterinary Teaching Hospital, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in a press release.

The female lion had been suffering from various complications, including bleeding from mouth and respiratory problems, it added.

Around 4:15pm on Wednesday, the lioness started trembling. The surgeon of the safari park, Dr Md Mostafizur Rahman, gave her treatment, the release said.

Around 7:30am yesterday, she was given treatment for breathing problems. The lioness was found dead around 1:00pm.

A postmortem would be conducted on the animal's body under the supervision of the veterinary surgeon of the park, said CCF Amir Hossain.

The lioness was brought to the park in 2013, he added.

He, however, could not confirm the numbers of lions and lioness in the safari park.

Meanwhile, a five-member probe committee, formed by the environment ministry on Wednesday, is now working to ascertain the cause of the deaths of the zebras and the tiger.

The committee has been asked to submit its investigation report to the ministry in 10 working days.

Also, three top officials of the safari park were removed from their posts over negligence of duty as per recommendations of a committee.