Moti Conservation Fund

It is with great sadness that Bristol Zoo Gardens announces that Moti, our female Asiatic lion, died on 18th May 2010.

Zoo vets diagnosed extensive disease of Moti’s reproductive tract which was unlikely to have responded to treatment. Zoo keepers and the vet team had been closely monitoring her condition, however, due to the advanced nature of her illness and the recent deterioration of her health, the decision was made for her to be euthanased, aged 15.

To help us remember Moti, and all the pleasure that she brought to thousands of visitors over the years, we have set up a short appeal in her memory;  all contributions will be dedicated to our Conservation Fund.

This Fund is used, not only to look after the threatened species in our care (including the Asiatic lions), but also to contribute to all the conservation activities, at home and abroad, in which we are actively engaged.  

If you would like to make a contribution to Moti’s Conservation Fund, or if you would simply like to remember a loved one, please contact Lizy Jones on 0117 974 7329 or click on the link to the right.  Donation envelopes are also available from the membership office.

Moti was born at Helsinki Zoo, Finland, in 1994 and was hand reared by keepers. She arrived at Bristol Zoo in January 1996, where she has lived since. She had her first cub at Bristol Zoo in March 1998, but it only survived for a few days. She went on to have two cubs in August 1998, Indi and Dacca, and a third in August 2001, Aiesha. They have since grown up and moved to other European zoos as part of a managed conservation breeding programme.

Asiatic lions are critically endangered, with only approximately 300 left in the wild, living on a small reserve in the Gir Forest in western India in an area smaller than the New Forest.