Three Lions Die at Tama Zoo, Heatstroke Suspected

I was very saddened by the news yesterday that three lionesses died at Tama Zoo in July, from suspected heatstroke. Apparently, of the 16 lions in the zoo, ten were taken poorly around mid-July. Hopefully, in due course more information will become available, but questions abound.

Did they take for granted that lions are from hot climates and didn't have sufficient cooling measures? They should know better, if that is the case. Lions can find places to cool down in the wild, but that is very hard to do in captivity. Moreover, while lions might be used to hot temperatures, they are not used to the suffocating humidity of Japan.

The zoo suspended public viewing of the lions on July 23rd. According to the Tokyo Zoo Net official statement, the zoo has since increased the number of spot coolers and added more industrial fans. It sounds too little, too late to me. But I really hope that they can save the other seven lions that also showed signed of illness, which experts seem to think is heat related.