SIMBA THE LION CUB DIES

Eighteen month old Simba, the lion cub hand-reared by David Hughes and Paola Lavarino, died under anaesthetic at our vets in early May 1999.

Some months ago Simba had successfully undergone a lengthy operation (several hours) for an intestinal hernia and, whilst we were apprehensive this time, we were not unduly perturbed by a further, minor hernia operation, which should have been 'over and done with in an hour or so'.

We were devastated - to say the least - when, in the middle of the operation, Simba just faded away, and died, and we are only slightly mollifed to discover from the post-mortem examination at Glasgow Vet School that a faulty heart valve could well have contributed significantly to this.