Zoo loses popular lioness to old age

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

After a long life at the Santa Barbara Zoo, Kali the lioness died on Tuesday from an age-related illness, zoo officials said.
Kali, short for Kalahari, spent much of her 22 years and five months at the Santa Barbara Zoo and was one of the oldest lions in captivity.

"She was able to connect with millions of guests during her time here," Alan Varsik, director of animal care and conservation, said.
Varsik said Kali had been undergoing treatment for kidney failure for years, the same symptoms that claimed the life of her brother, Paka, in 2001. Both Kali and Paka came to the zoo from the now-shuttered West Coast Deer Park in Oregon in the late summer of 1985 when Kali was just 10 weeks old.
The siblings lived together in what is now the snow leopard exhibit until Paka died and Kali moved to the Cats of Africa area overlooking East Beach in 2004.
"She did really well up there," Varsik said. "She enjoyed the space."
When Chadwick and Gingerbread, the two lions remaining at the zoo, bred in 2004 and 2005, Kali helped socialize the two cubs, Kiki and Docha.
"She made a fairly good aunt," Varsik said.
Zoo CEO Rich Block echoed that sentiment, calling her “one of the most photographed and popular animals at the zoo.”
“Kali was a great ambassador for her wild kin and she will be missed,” he said.
When asked if the zoo has any plans to bring more lions to the Cats of Africa exhibit, Varsik said that remains up to the collaborative program managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
“Right now, we have a recommendation to allow breeding with Chadwick and Gingerbread,” he said. “We’ve had Gingerbread on a form of birth control, so we’re just letting that run its course.”
Varsik said the current lion exhibit can hold up to six lions and the zoo hopes to build its lion pride in upcoming years.