What a mama!
- Lioness Kashifa, at Zoo Miami, won't let anything happen to her five cubs
- Her pride includes hew nephew Kwasi, whom she adopted after the death of her sister Asha
Stunning
footage captured by a 10-year-old girl shows the incredible moment when
lioness Kashifa rescued one of her cubs from falling into a moat at Zoo
Miami.
Kashifa,
who has five cubs in her pride, is seen in the video carefully going
down a steep embankment and grabbing the 4-month-old cub by its back,
slowly rescuing the little guy from harm's way.
Onlookers
at Zoo Miami held a collective breath while mama lion brought her cub
back up — and broke out in cheers when she rescued him.
Mama lion Kashifa doesn't joke around when it
comes to protecting her cubs. Here she goes down a moat to rescue one of
her little babies who fell down while playing with his siblings
Kashifa watches after a total of five cubs, all under one year of age
Afterward,
the rest of the pride welcomed the cub back with comforting licks, said
10-year-old Amanda Carmeli, who captured the footage, WPLG reported. 'The zoo is set up so the animals aren’t
in cages,' spokesman Ron Magill told ABC News, pointing out that this isn't the first time one of the cubs has fallen into the moat.
'They’re out in
open-moated exhibits so there’s no barrier to prevent them from going
into the moat,' he added. 'It was always a concern of ours that the cubs
may fall in the moat, so before they were let out in the exhibit they
were each swim-tested.'
Kashifa had four cubs of her own last year. She
began looking after her nephew Kwasi when her sister, Asha, died a few
months after giving birth
Zoo Miami last year celebrated the birth of lion
cubs for the first time in its 33 years. Staff say that the cubs are
quite happy playing around in their habitat, though every once in a
while one falls into the moat — requiring a rescue from mama
One of Kashifa's cubs scratches his mom's back while she keeps a watchful eye on the rest of her pride
Kashifa
has been caring for the cubs since last September, when Zoo Miami
celebrated the birth of three lions for the first time in its 33-year
history.
A total of five new lions were born at the zoo by December, when Kwasi was born to Kashifa's sister, Asha. But tragedy struck a few months after, when Asha died.
Zoo staff say that Kashifa is a fierce lioness, always watching to make sure nothing happens to her five cubs
The big-hearted Kashifa took her nephew into her own pride and has been taking care of Kwasi ever since. 'We were confident that the lion
was a good mother,' Magill told ABC News. 'She had demonstrated to us before that
she would go into the water to rescue her cubs.'
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