SGNP's star lioness Shobha is no more

Shobha, a 12-year-old lioness who tourists would wait for hours to photograph at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), has passed away after prolonged illness. 

“She was suffering from uterine problems and was being treated for almost a year now. She was responding well to treatment and was kept under observation, but her condition deteriorated last week,” said Vikas Gupta, director and chief conservator of forests of SGNP.

The lioness died on Monday (October 12) night at around 9.30 pm. After her death, just three lions remain inside the park – Ravindra, who is inside the lion safari enclosure, and two of Shobha's three cubs from another lion, Badshah, who passed away in August last year. Her cubs Jespa and Gopal were born in September 2012, and are only two years old, while the third cub died earlier. 

Shobha is the same lioness who had killed security guard Harish Gembal of the lion safari enclosure back in April 20, 2010, when the forest staffer was manually opening the gate. After the attack, Shobha had dragged him into the bushes, which was followed by a night-long search by the forest guards.

The authorities were hoping that Shobha and Ravindra would soon have more cubs to improve the dwindling population of lions in the park, but their hopes were dimmed by Shobha's illness as well the fact that Ravindra and the lioness were quite violent with each other. As a result, the tourists never saw the two together in the enclosure.

The forest authorities have decided to preserve Shobha through taxidermy by Dr Santosh Gaikwad. Once the procedure is done, she will be preserved inside the national park.