One pair of lions have been capturing the hearts of people across the internet after the tragic, yet heartwarming story of their deaths was released on their zoo’s website.
This is Zenda and Isis.
Zenda, the male lion (left, above), and Isis, the lioness (forefront, above), were two African lions who lived at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
Brookfield Zoo is managed by the non-profit organization the Chicago Zoological Society, whose mission is “to inspire conservation leadership by engaging people and communities with wildlife and nature.”
The pair were incredibly close.
Both of the beautiful creatures arrived at Brookfield Zoo back in 2008, and according to Brookfield Zoo’s website , the pair were “an inseparable bonded pair in all the years since”.
However, sadly, as the new decade dawned, tragedy struck.
The pair would have turned 14 and 15 this year, but their time was cut short.
In fact, that is actually quite an impressive age for the pair of lions, however, for a pair as inseparable as these two, any amount of time was too short!
As the year began, the zoo’s website was edited to feature an unfortunate announcement.
As the zoo announced , “The new year has begun on a very sad note at Brookfield Zoo, as we have had to announce the passing of our male and female African lions, Zenda and Isis.”
The pair died an incredibly short amount of time apart from one another.
Apparently, just before Christmas, the zoo staff noticed that Zenda was having trouble walking. Vets tried to treat the symptoms, however, the decision was made to humanely euthanize poor Zenda.
An autopsy revealed he had been suffering from, “several degenerative discs in his spine that had ruptured as a result of his advanced age and were inoperable.”
But, the tragedy didn’t stop there.
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Shortly after, Isis showed signs of poor health also.
Less than two weeks later, Isis fell from a height in the enclosure. Although, despite the vets’ quick work, they again decided that their only option was to humanely euthanize her due to the extent of her injuries.
Hopefully, the pair will find each other again somewhere.
A lot of fans of the zoo shared their own pictures of the pair, and expressed their love for the majestic beasts, with one such person writing on the zoo’s Facebook page: “My condolences to every single caretaker and supporter at the zoo. I’m pretty sure Zenda is celebrating his reunion with Isis already.”
A lot of people have speculated that Isis died of a broken heart, as zoo officials still do not know what caused her fall.
Either way, the story of their wonderful love will live on!
h/t: Yahoo
