African Lion Who Helped Inform Epilepsy Treatment Dies At MI Zoo

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — During his 16 years of life, Docha the lion was a great teacher to the medical staff at John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids. Docha died Tuesday in a humane gesture: He was euthanized to prevent further suffering from a progressive neurological problem.

The zoo’s veterinary staff had been successfully treating Docha for the health challenges surrounding epilepsy for more than a decade.

“Docha’s story is a great example of the advancement of zoo medicine and how we can use medical technology and the expertise of veterinary specialists to provide the best possible care for our patients,” John Ball Zoo veterinarian Dr. Ryan Colburn said in a news release.

Epilepsy is rare in lions but not unheard of. Razi, a lion at the Pittsburgh Zoo, died in 2019 after suffering a grand mal seizure. Razi was put on anti-seizure medication in 2013, about two years after Docha was diagnosed with epilepsy by veterinarians at Michigan State University.

• RELATED: Razi, Pittsburgh’s Beloved African Lion, Dies

In the wild, the African lion would not have survived, Colburn said, but regular anti-seizure medication, consistent monitoring and close care gave Docha another decade of life.

Zookeepers and veterinarians recently noticed gradual changes that a veterinary neurologist concluded were the result of a lesion on the left side of Docha’s brain. Confirming the diagnosis would have required an MRI at a veterinary hospital — a risky procedure given Docha’s age and health, the zoo said.

Docha’s condition went downhill quickly. The zoo said that when he began stumbling and losing his balance and control of his motor functions, the veterinary team made the humane decision to euthanize him.

“This is always an extremely difficult decision, but is especially difficult with an animal as unique as Docha,” said Tim Sampson, Docha’s caregiver since the African lion arrived at John Ball Zoo in 2007.

Docha was born April 10, 2005, at a zoo in Santa Barbara, California. He lived about as long a life as most zoo lions — the average is 16.9 years — and longer than he would’ve in the wild, where African lions live about 10 or 14 years, the release said.

The zoo has two other African lions: Abena, a female, and Kiume, a male.

Docha was a zoo favorite from Day One, Sampson said. He had an “aloof personality,” the lion's longtime caregiver continued, and displayed “goofy excitement," especially when seeing his favorite people.

Sampson said Docha also was an ambassador for his species, the largest cat roaming the savannas of Africa. Among all big cat species, lions are second in size only to tigers. Male lions are unique among cat species for their thick manes of brown or black hair that form a collar around their head and neck. The darker and thicker the main, the healthier the cat.

They are also distinctive among cats for their powerful voices. Both males and females roar — a sound the African Wildlife Foundation said can be heard as far as 8 kilometers — about 5 miles — away.

The wild African lion population decreased 43 percent in just two decades, according to the African Wildlife Foundation, and they’re extinct in 15 African countries where they once roamed free. African lions’ conservation status listed as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Habitat destruction from agriculture, settlements and roads is the main reason for the lions’ alarming decline in the wild.

“As lion habitats shrink, the big cats are being forced into closer quarters with humans,” the African Wildlife Foundation said on its website. “This, coupled with a decrease in their natural prey, causes them to attack livestock. In turn, farmers oftentimes retaliate and kill these big majestic cats.”

African lions are prized by human predators.

“These big cats are being killed in rituals of bravery, prized as hunting trophies, and, increasingly, for their body parts' perceived medicinal and magical powers,” the African Wildlife Foundation said.

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