MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Zoo Miami’s 11-year-old lioness, Kashifa, was euthanized Monday, weeks after the zoo’s Animal Health and Animal Science teams discovered that she had lost mobility in her hind legs.
The lioness was immobilized and underwent an MRI so that her spine and nerve function could be evaluated.
Veterinarians determined that Kashifa sustained a “non-compressive injury to her spinal cord,” the news release stated.
The lioness underwent nearly three weeks of intensive care, but did not show any signs of improvement.
Kashifa was born at the Bronx Zoo in 2010 and gave birth to a litter of four cubs in 2014 at Zoo Miami.