New lion cub monitored on CCTV

Asha gave birth to her cub outside

Zoo keepers celebrating a new lion cub arrival are monitoring its early progress on CCTV.

Asha the lioness has given birth to a cub, but it is the first time she has raised one herself, meaning staff are keeping their distance from the pair.

Keepers at Chester Zoo have not managed to establish whether the Asiatic cub is male or female, so are watching the pair closely on camera to find out.

Asha's previous offspring Tejas was hand-reared.

'Protective'

Kevin Buley, head of zoo programmes, said: "We are delighted to welcome the second litter in 12 months but what is most pleasing this time is that Asha is quite willing to do all the work and raise her young herself.

"We would far rather this than have to intervene and are quite happy to sit back and let Asha take on the role of proud mother.

"We are monitoring their progress from CCTV cameras inside her den and that gives us enough clues as to how they are getting on.

"Asha does have access to both inside and outside of her enclosure as she goes about raising her cub and she seems very content, happy and understandably protective."

Mr Buley said visitors may catch glimpses of the new addition, but that disturbance to them is being kept to a minimum.