Dudley Zoo snow leopard cub dies weeks after mother's passing
A Snow leopard cub has died just weeks after the death of his mother at Dudley Zoo.
Zoo bosses confirmed that its four-week old hand-reared snow leopard cub died on Monday after being taken ill overnight. The news has devastated staff and visitors.
Zoo Director, Derek Grove, said: "Despite valiant round-the-clock care from our senior keeper, Sarah Evans, since the loss of Milo's mum and the best veterinary care, nothing could be done to save him."
A post mortem was due to take place on Monday afternoon.
The news follows the recent death of the cub's mother Nanga. The seven year-old big cat died due to complications during labour following the birth of Milo, who was at the time a large healthy male cub.
Mr Grove added, at the time of Nanga's death: "Nanga and the cub were being monitored by CCTV cameras and staff reacted immediately.
"All at DZ are understandably devastated at her death, but we're thankful that Nanga was alive long enough to provide the first important feeds for the cub."
In June last year, two-year-old Makalu left the zoo for his new home at Darjeeling Zoo almost 5,000 miles away, as part of a global breeding programme.
The programme could potentially see Makalu's descendants released into the wild. Curator Richard Brown said: "We're hugely proud to be involved in this transfer, which is an incredibly exciting move for Makalu and the snow leopard species in general.
