Shane

This picture shows Shane and a couple of the Woburn lionesses on a visit in 2004.

This is a response to Animal Planets "Safari Park Adventure"...

It was in 2003 when Shane and his older half brother Sly arrived at Woburn Safari Park after the death of their previous pride males Romeo and Legs Diamond. When Sly and Shane arrived, they had just been ousted from their home pride at Knowsley Safari Park where they were born. Sly in May 1995 and Shane in June 1997. So they took to the role of Pride Males with immediate effect.

Their move soon gave arrival to the first lion cubs for 6 years, the first of which being Riziki, those who follow this blog will know exactly who he is. And with a considerable number of litters following. Sly died around 2009 but it wasn't put out into the press, the only clue being only one maned lion was still there! From what I heard it seems like he was ousted from the pride, and it was a final fight that finished him off.

As for Shane, he kept going till last year (2011) When he died during the Summer, as this article shows.

From watching the recent showing of Safari Park Adventure on Animal Planet, it was said that after the pride had been made more harmonious due to the moving of five or so individuals from the Pride (including the Colchester trio in the last post) the Pride was ready for cubs again, and that Shane was the intended father of any future cubs, but as it can be seen he never sired any before his death. As shown in the programme the female they wanted cubs from was Tamby, this is the mother of Riziki, and to most other litters, infact the only female at Woburn who would have been of breeding compatibility with Shane, with the rest being his offspring. 

Shanes death was not much of a surprise to me, having seen photos he did look severely beaten up, compared to the lions at Linton that I see on a regular basis, this showing how Safari Park life for lions is incredibly different to those who live in pairs of small groups in Zoos, who always look in much better condition, as the stresses and strains of pride dynamics are not part of their regular life style.