Doggy paddle helps big cat

Laura Smith-Spark
BBC News Online, South East

The hydrotherapy sessions help Samira move her damaged leg

Cats may be known for their aversion to water but for one lion cub, a trip to the hydrotherapy pool has become a lifesaver.

Samira, from Port Lympne Animal Park in Kent, is being taught to swim as a way to regain the use of a leg injured when she was only four days old.

At one point keepers feared they would have to put the seven-month-old Barbary lion down or amputate the limb, which the cub was unable to use after her mother accidentally bit it.

But tiger keeper Pete Thompson said the animal's 10 sessions in the pool at Alkhamhurst Kennels, in Alkham, near Dover, had brought an amazing improvement.

She is very good with people - when she's upset she will growl but she won't actually bite Tiger keeper Peter Thompson

Mr Thompson said: "She was quite a fighter so we decided to keep her going and probably amputate the leg later on.

"Then it started working and seemed to repair itself and she is getting better and better."

The hydrotherapy pool, which usually caters for dogs, works by encouraging the cub to extend her damaged shoulder through swimming without having to bear weight on it.

She is encouraged to play before being showered and lowered into the water, wearing a buoyancy aid.

The lion cub is encouraged to play before her dip

The cub reacts with growling and snarling but swims along quite happily once she is in the water.

"She is very good with people - when she's upset she will growl but she won't actually bite," said Mr Thompson.

"Lions don't normally go near the water. She's okay with it but I wouldn't say she enjoyed it."

Roz Chaplin, who runs the kennels and the hydrotherapy sessions, said she thought it was a hoax when the zoo first called - but had been happy to give Samira, known as Sammy, a try.

"She was quite calm the first time because she didn't know what was coming. The second time was a little bit different," she said.

Male lion

"It's very hard work for her in the pool - normally a one-minute session is like a one-mile hike for a normal animal."

Mr Thompson reared the injured cub by hand after she was rejected by her mother.

He hopes to introduce Sammy, who now weighs 23.5 kg, to a hand-reared male lion while she is young because she does not mix with the other lions at the zoo.

Sammy, who will be two or three times her current size when fully grown, may never fully recover from her injury but now stands a much better chance of leading a normal life.

"This is probably the first time anyone's done this with a lion," her keeper said. "It's working very well."