Wardens take baby oryx from lion "mum"
Date: 19-Feb-02
Country: KENYA
The lioness defied nature and adopted the new-born oryx, a kind of antelope lions usually like to eat, on Valentine's Day, giving it affection and protection from other predators.
"It was becoming weak because it was not feeding," an official at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said on the weekend. "We are feeding it with milk from our cows now."
Local newspapers said game wardens snatched the oryx on Saturday when the lioness left it under an acacia tree to go hunting.
"It was either that or leave it to die," the Sunday Nation quoted senior KWS warden Julius Kimani as saying. "It was too weak and would not have survived another day without being fed."
In January, the same lioness adopted and protected another oryx for two weeks before a hungry male lion seized the baby while its "mother" was napping.