「まるでテディベア」　人工哺育でホワイトライオンすくすく

【ギジェナＡＦＰ＝時事】スペインの動物園で、母親に育児放棄されたホワイトライオンの赤ちゃんが人工哺育で育てられている。「ホワイトキング」と名付けられた生後10日の雄の赤ちゃんライオンを、飼育員たちは「テディベアに命が宿ったよう」だと言ってかわいがっている。（写真はスペイン南部セビリア近郊の動物園ムンドパークで初めて生まれたホワイトライオンの赤ちゃん「ホワイトキング」）
　ホワイトキングは５月３１日、南部セビリア近郊の動物園「ムンドパーク」で生まれた。
　この動物園でホワイトライオンが出産したのは初めて。だが、フアン・ルイス・マルパルティダ園長は「ひどい出産だった」とＡＦＰに語った。４年前にタイから来た母ライオンは「出産まで１４、１５日間苦しみ続けた」という。
　母ライオンは出産から３日間ずっと赤ちゃんに授乳しなかった。母親が「わが子に一切注意を払っていない」ことに気付いた飼育員が赤ちゃんを救出したときには、脱水症状を起こし「低体温と低血糖」になっていたという。
　ホワイトキングはその後、ミルクと愛情をたっぷりもらって元気を取り戻した。マルパルティダ園長の腕に抱かれ、丸くなって眠ることもある。１０日には頭を上げて走ろうとする様子も見られた。
　新型コロナウイルスの影響で３か月間閉園していた動物園は、１１日に再開する。飼育する動物３０００匹の中でも、ホワイトキングは人気の的となりそうだ。
　ホワイトキングは当座、ムンドパークの飼育員の手によって育てられる。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/12-10:00）

His name is White King, he's 10 days old and the zoo says he's a real teddy bear. But the lioness who bore him rejected him after a traumatic birth.
Born on May 31, the cub is the first white lion born in a Spanish zoo.
Curled up in the arms of Juan Luis Malpartida, director of the Mundo Park zoo near the southern city of Seville, he's getting no shortage of cuddles and even a bottle of milk.
It was a bad birth, he told AFP, adding that the mother, a white lioness brought over from Thailand four years ago had laboured for 14 or 15 days before giving birth.
And when he finally emerged, he was a hefty little fellow.
Just imagine what she went through, I don't know how she got him out, says Malpartida, a 73-year-old who has spent his life surrounded by animals.
In the first three days, he didn't feed and after realising his mother wasn't paying him any attention, they pulled him out of the compound, dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia and hypoglycemia.
By Wednesday, the change was evident.
It's the first day I've seen with his head held up, trying to run, he said.
For now the mother appears happy enough after her ordeal.
She's totally calm, he said, indicating she appeared to have put the trauma of the birth behind her.
She wanted to be free of the cub, she was ready to mate again.
White King will be one of the biggest attractions when this zoo, which counts 3,000 animals, reopens on Thursday following a three-month closure due to the epidemic.
For now, the Mundo Park staff will keep looking after him.
When we see he's ready to be reunited with his parents, we'll do it. But it's a delicate issue because then he will competing with his father for the mother's attention.