Skip to main content
new

Nokanda, dubbed the pride of the Toronto Zoo, has passed away at the age of 15, Tuesday Aug. 2, 2011. Nokanda was born in 1996 at Philadelphia Zoo, arriving at the Toronto Zoo the next year. The zoo says its veterinary staff put down Nokanda after discovering she had cancer.Toronto Zoo/The Canadian Press

Nokanda's role as one of the Toronto Zoo's star attractions was sealed with a single crack of Joe Carter's bat.

It was 1993, and a brash Philadelphia Zoo director named Pete Hoskins bet his Toronto counterpart that the Phillies would win the 1993 World Series. The wager: some Tasmanian devils for a Phillies win; some white lion cubs for a Blue Jays victory.

Mr. Carter's ninth-inning blast over the left-field fence brought the championship to Toronto - and the lions followed in 1995 for a temporary exhibit.

Their relationship solidified by a single swing, the Philadelphia Zoo sent Nokanda - Zulu for "lucky" - to Toronto a year later on a permanent basis. Over the next 15 years, she became a main draw and a ferocious symbol of a time when the city's sports teams competed for major championships.

Nokanda died of liver disease on Thursday.

"She was a very interesting and beautiful animal," said Graham Crawshaw, the zoo's senior veterinarian, "and one of the most popular exhibits ever."

The white lion is rare both in captivity and in the wild. Its light hide - the result of a rare recessive gene that creates a lack of pigment in the hair and skin - makes cubs brightly coloured prey for hyenas on the dun savannah.

In the wild, lions rarely live more than 15 years.

"She lived a good life here," said Dr. Crawshaw.

Nokanda sired three male cubs over her life, all with Rowdy, the zoo's leonine patriarch at 20 years of age.

For much of her life, she was testy with her human minders. Dr. Crawshaw remembers her as being aggressive and nervous.

"Just like every person, different wild animals have different personalities," he said. "She wasn't the friendliest one, particularly towards us as veterinarians."

Several weeks ago, she began dropping weight. Blood tests showed she was suffering from serious liver disease. Exploratory surgery revealed a number of cancerous tumours. That's when staff decided to euthanize her.

Liver disease is relatively common among aged large cats, according to Dr. Crawshaw, adding that Nokanda will be replaced with another lion at some point.

"When you get older animals, you have to expect this, whether they're pets or zoo animals," he said. "They don't live forever. It's the circle of life."

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe