Keepers and staff at Banham Zoo left 'devastated' over death of Sri Lankan leopard Sariska

Staff at Banham Zoo have been left 'devastated' after the death of their Sri Lankan leopard Sariska.

The female died yesterday after battling illness for the past few weeks.

At a post-mortem it was discovered Sariska had a serious heart condition that 'would have led to her death within a matter of weeks', but further investigation is going to be carried out to try and ascertain the cause of death.

Sariska's gave birth to two cubs in June, one of which sadly died in August.

Gary Batters, joint managing director of Zoological Society of East Anglia, said: "This is so upsetting for the keepers and staff who have cared for Sariska since she arrived at Banham Zoo in 2015.

"She will be greatly missed by the team here at Banham Zoo and by our visitors.

"Our focus will be on supporting the development of the leopard cub, to ensure he adapts as well as possible to the loss.

"We have named him Sariask, an anagram of his mother’s name in Sariska’s memory."

The Zoological Society of East Anglia, the charity which runs Banham Zoo in Norfolk and Africa Alive in Suffolk, is a partner in the European Breeding Programme for the Sri Lankan leopard, which is one of 9 subspecies of leopard.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classify the Sri Lankan leopard as Vulnerable, following their last assessment in October 2019, with under 800 mature individuals left in the wild.

Banham Zoo and Africa Alive reopened to the public in July with new safety measures in place.

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