Two vasectomies later, lion at sanctuary near Branson fathers eight cubs

After surprise turned into tragedy last year, the National Tiger Sanctuary north of Branson is doing everything it can to ensure the health of eight lion cubs.

The cubs are receiving special attention: Their vitamin A levels are being monitored, and at one point, the cubs were receiving weekly injections of the vitamin.

The executive director said the growing cats are healthy, and on a warm November day, the lively cubs wrestled each other and practiced their roars.

These cubs weren't supposed to be born, though. Their father, Leo, overcame a second vasectomy to sire them.

Last year — after Leo's vas deferens was first snipped — he fathered two other cubs, but those cubs aren't at the sanctuary anymore.

Those two cubs were meant to spend their entire lives — perhaps as long as two decades — at the sanctuary.

Then their health declined.

The pair died before they reached 3 months old after they were stricken with a vitamin A deficiency, which a veterinarian for the sanctuary said was highly unusual.

It was tragic when the two cubs passed, owner Judy McGee said, explaining that one cub was euthanized after bones in his skull started thickening.

Leo, the father, was given a second vasectomy, she said.

A year later, it appears Leo has regrown his vas deferens for the second time, having sired the eight cubs with two different lionesses this year.

Raising cubs

Abbie Knudsen, executive director of the sanctuary, said it's still tough to talk about the two cubs that died last year. When asked what the cubs meant to the sanctuary, Knudsen paused.

"They're really just like our family," she said. "You definitely carry a part of them with you forever ... it never really gets easier."

McGee, the owner, recalled the realization that the two cubs weren't doing well last year.

"One of the cubs didn't die suddenly," she said. "He lost some of his motor skills — we didn't know what happened to him."

Raising cubs in captivity is difficult, McGee said.

"It was something we couldn't prevent," she said. "Something we couldn't cure."

Cubs that young are not supposed to have vitamin A deficiencies, especially when they nurse from their mother as these two cubs did, said Casey Talbot, a Fair Grove veterinarian who works with the sanctuary.

"Mother's milk should be sufficient," Talbot said. "It caught everyone off guard."

Talbot said he spoke with experts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and zoologists who were also puzzled by the vitamin A deficiency, which normally wouldn't be an issue until the cub reached about 9 months.

The eight cubs at the sanctuary have had their vitamin A levels tested and at one point the cubs were receiving weekly injections of vitamin A, Talbot said.

Part of the struggle is the lack of information on the subject, he said, adding that he and staff "spent hours and hours and hours" researching possible maladies.

"It's frustrating for all of us," he said. "It's just not something you can look up."

The same thing can be said for lion vasectomies, Talbot said, and he's still not sure how or why Leo was able to overcome two vasectomies.

For now, though, the female lions will be getting spayed, said Knudsen, the executive director, and the cubs are doing well.

"All the cubs are growing, gaining and healthy," she said.

Knudsen said the staff couldn't believe when the first litter of four cubs was born April 1 — April Fools' Day — as they thought the lioness had just put on a bit of weight.

"We didn't know mom was pregnant because we didn't think it was possible for her to get pregnant," she said. "We didn't know we were having cubs until we came down here and saw babies."

That's when staff decided to check out another female lion, Knudsen said, and the next month, a second litter of four cubs was born.

When the growing cubs aren't sleeping, Knudsen said they spend time practicing hunting, "stalking, pouncing, chasing each other."

"They've been such a joy, even though they were unplanned," she said.

Knudsen said it's not the intention of the sanctuary to have cubs born there, but she described the addition of the eight cubs as "joyous" and "uplifting."

The death of the two cubs last year felt unfair and unjust, she said. Now Knudsen said she's grateful the eight lion cubs are healthy.

Many of the cats at the sanctuary spent their lives in abuse and neglect before coming there, but not these cubs, Knudsen said — not now, not ever.

“They’re wonderful. They’re playful and funny," she said. “All they’ll know is love and joy forever.”

About the sanctuary

Knudsen said the nonprofit National Tiger Sanctuary was founded in 2000. It has two main goals, she said: Caring for rescued exotic animals and educating the public.

People can go to a "roadside zoo" and pick up a tiger or lion cub, Knudsen said, and they're unaware they could be disastrously hurting that cub.

"You probably wouldn't take your 8-week-old baby to the mall, set up a booth and pass the baby around," she said. "It's just not safe for the animals."

Some of the animals at the sanctuary were used in performances, where negative reinforcement was used to train them and they were often abused, Knudsen said. The sanctuary has leopards that used to be in a magic show, and Knudsen said they "rip out their own hair."

There also aren't many laws regulating the ownership or selling of these exotic animals, Knudsen said. For instance, she said it's estimated that there are 5,000 to 10,000 tigers in captivity in America, but the exact number is unknown because there's no registration of owners.

Until the Large Carnivore Act passed, it was possible to secretly own a tiger in Missouri, Knudsen said, but there's a law barring squirrel ownership.

"We have better regulations in Missouri to protect people from squirrels than tigers," she said.

McGee, the owner, said the National Tiger Sanctuary takes its role of providing a caring home for exotic animals seriously.

"We don't breed," McGee said. "We've never sold or traded or done anything like that."

She noted that one lion at the sanctuary spent most of his life living in a 10-foot-by-10-foot enclosure with no sunlight.

"Now he's in 10,000 square feet," McGee said. "He's a happy guy."

To learn more, visit NationalTigerSanctuary.org or call 417-587-3633.