Well, this is really fucking sad. A female lion named Johari, 5, was attacked and killed by a male lion in her enclosure at the Dallas Zoo on Sunday afternoon. Another obvious example of the patriarchy in action, said some idiot making a terrible joke (me).
Apparently visitors to the zoo saw the whole thing go down. Onlookers thought they were watching two lions engaging in some super fun roughhousing, but then blood started pouring from the 5-year-old lioness’ neck and everyone was like “uhhhh…”.
According to the New York Daily News, five lions lived in the enclosure: Johari and her two sisters, and brothers Dinari and Kamaia. All of the lions are five years old and were born in captivity. Which, if that’s correct, means she was killed by one of her brothers. Is there anyone with knowledge about whether lions — and lions in captivity, specifically — ever kill family members. I know that occasionally male lions who come into a pride will kill cubs to insure their dominance, but I haven’t heard about this before. Poor lioness. Poor lions. That’s no life.