Rare White Lions Family to be freed from Captivity! (In Pictures)

Conservationists are due to reintroduce a family of extremely rare white lions in South Africa in the next few days. This step they are taking in order to save them from being condemned to captivity and with hopes of reuniting them with their wild habitat. The family includes a white lioness, Zihra, her mate Mandla, and their three one-year-old-cubs – sons Zukhara and Matsienge, and daughter Nebu.

The family was knocked out with anesthesia to collar the big white cats which would help the conservationists to keep track of the rare pride across the savannah. These white lions are not Albinos but are the result of a rare genetic mutation which is unique to this area of the world. Blending into the environment is not an issue for them at all as the region is characterized with white sandy riverbeds and long sun-bleached grass.

The pale white lions were not the verge of extinction until they saw their numbers tumble in the wild as hunters started hunting them as their trophy or removed them for captive breeding. According to one estimate there are about 500 white lions in captivity. Unfortunately, they are not protected under law as they are yet to be classified as their own sub-species of Panthera leo.

A white lioness with her cubs was released into the wild in the year 2006 and within a few months, the pride was self-sufficient and Trust’s monitoring team recorded 95 kills in the first year. Sadly, the mother Marah died while hunting in 2007 but her cubs continue to flourish. With this precedent set, there is great hope for this new family of white lions to be able to survive and thrive in the wild on their own.