Bakari, a 14-year-old lion at the Little Rock Zoo, has died, the zoo announced Thursday.
The lion was one of three who lived at the Little Rock Zoo, Joy Matlock, zoo director of marketing and development, said in a release. He arrived in Little Rock from the Pueblo Zoo in Pueblo, Colo. when he was 2 years old. He was being treated for a variety of medical issues since the summer, Matlock added.
In the days leading up to his death, Bakari was having difficulty eating and drinking, the release states. The veterinary staff at the zoo performed an examination and found a large mass behind his esophagus. Following the surgery, Bakari was unable to recover from the anesthesia, Matlock said.
According to the zoo, necropsy results showed suspected metastatic cancer in Bakari’s spleen and lungs.
The median life expectancy for a lion living in a zoo, according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, is 16.9 years.
Just under two weeks ago, a 42-year-old gorilla, Brutus, died at the zoo after failing to recover from anesthesia following a medical exam.
Matlock said Bakari will be missed by his female lion companions, Saphira and Inara.
“I have worked with him essentially my entire career,” Kate Neal, one of Bakari’s keepers, said in the release. Neal’s first year at the zoo was the same year the lion arrived in Little Rock, the release states.
“He was a very special lion and his loss is more than I can articulate,” Neal said.
Neal added that Bakari liked to have attention on him.
“He would roll around on his back and grab his back feet like he was in a yoga pose trying to get our attention in the morning or when the weather was so nice outside and he just wasn’t to come in yet,” she said.
Zoo Director Susan Altrui said when Bakari arrived, he still had some of his cub spots and his mane was barely grown.
“He was full of spunk and instantly won us over,” Altrui said.
This story was originally published at 12:05 p.m.