The Planckendael animal park, near Mechelen in Antwerp Province is mourning the loss of two lion cubs after they were bitten to death by their own mother. The infanticide tragedy was announced on the zoo’s Twitter account. Lorena the lioness (photo above) refused to accept her cubs after they returned to their enclosure after having been vaccinated against panleukopenia.
Mechelen
Lioness kills her own cubs at Flemish animal park
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It is not the first time that Lorena has killed her own cubs. Two years ago she also killed one of the two cubs in her litter. It is often the case that in the wild a lioness will kill all or some of her litter due to inexperience as a mother.
Planckendael Zoo says that Lorena is known for her bad temper and outbursts of aggression. "She is known to be a nervous lioness with a fiery temper and she can sometimes display aggression towards her keepers”, Plackendael said in a Twitter post.