Sam's Story

Sam was born at Dudley Zoo on the 28th of February 1998. Unfortunately, Sam’s mother Gir was nervous and inexperienced. Because of this the keeping staff at Dudley Zoo decided to rear little Sam by hand.

Sam was kept away from the public for the first few weeks of his life to allow him to grow. In that time he had around the clock attention from the keepers. However, raising a young lion cub without contact with other animals could lead to problems later in his life. To help Sam learn how to behave he was given a young playmate to keep him company: A Japanese Akita puppy called Konèko.

Why keep him with a dog?

Sam had no brothers or sisters to keep him company and to learn from. The dog taught him how to play and treat an animal of his own size. This helped him to understand his own strengths and weaknesses and taught him the difference between play and aggression.

It was important that Sam had the opportunity to learn how to behave in this way as he needed these skills when he was eventually moved on to be paired with a mate. In this way he has learned to understand how to respond to the different signals his future mate will display.

It is not enough when hand rearing an animal to just consider the nutritional needs: you must also take care of their sociological needs.

Why an Akita?

The Japanese Akita has been bred for centuries as a hunting dog to hunt bears and wild boars. Akitas are bred to be confident and forward going. They are not easily scared and will not back down when confronted. If Sam had a timid dog as a partner he would easily dominate it or else become timid himself. The confidence in the Akita brought out the same in Sam.

Akitas are the most feline of dog species, having many cat-like mannerisms. Also they have thick coats which provide useful protection against sharp teeth and claws!

London Zoo successfully used an Akita puppy to help raise a hand-reared Sumatran tiger cub and there was every reason to believe that Konèko and Sam would get along fine.

Check out the pictures of Sam in his own special section in the gallery.