Small zoo in Massachusetts mourns loss of its female lion
ATTLEBORO - A small zoo in Massachusetts is mourning the loss of its female African lion. The Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro said 20-year-old Nyalla died on New Year's Eve.
Nyalla has been at the eight-acre zoo since July of 2005 when she arrived with her sister Kayla. They were part of a close-knit pride with a male lion named Ramses, who came to the zoo in 2007 and had cubs with the pair the next year. Kayla died in 2020 from chronic kidney disease.
Nyalla was known for her "powerful roars, striking facial expressions, and sassy personality," a past Facebook post from the zoo said.
Nyalla the lion's health
According to the Smithsonian's National Zoo, a lioness can live up to 16 years in the wild, and into their late teens or early 20s in zoos.
Like Kayla, Nyalla had kidney concerns starting in 2014, the zoo said. She also started to develop arthritis as she got older. Last February, zoo veterinarians decided it would be too risky to sedate Nyalla for future physical exams because of her age.
Staff noticed that Nyalla began to slow down in December, and the lion died "naturally" on Tuesday, the zoo said.
"Although the staff are feeling the loss of Nyalla, they take pride in knowing the level of care she received allowed her to live well beyond her expected years," the zoo said in a statement.
A necropsy will determine Nyalla's cause of death.
Capron Park Zoo
The Capron Park Zoo has been in Attleboro since 1937 and typically sees about 120,000 visitors annually. The zoo decided years ago it couldn't take on any additional lion cubs "due to space limitations and challenges of the exhibit."
Like many institutions, the zoo was left in a tough spot by the COVID pandemic when it couldn't welcome visitors for months. In 2023, the city allocated nearly half a million dollars in pandemic relief funds to the zoo so it could continue to stay open and care for the animals.
