The three females and one male played in their outdoor enclosure at Dvur Kralove Safari Park on Wednesday, enjoying themselves under the watchful eyes of their parents, Khalila and Bart.

That will change soon. As part of an international endangered species programme which co-ordinates efforts for their survival in captivity, the cubs will be sent to other participating parks, including the Beersheba zoo in Israel.

That might not be the end of the story for the animal.

Dvur Kralove deputy director Jaroslav Hyjanek said that while preliminary steps have been taken for a possible reintroduction of the Barbary lion into its natural habitat, it is still a “far distant future”.

A member of the northern lion subspecies, the Barbary lion once roamed freely its native northern Africa, including

See Full Page