Lion cubs embark on first outdoor adventure at West Midlands Safari Park

Three lion cubs at West Midlands Safari Park have taken their first steps into the public eye, following their second round of vaccinations on Tuesday 8 July. The 12-week-old cubs, named Nero, Nox and Nancy, took their first tentative steps outdoors under the watchful eye of mum, 12-year-old Amber, who encouraged them out with soft grunting noises.

Once the cubs had taken some time to explore their new surroundings, keepers started to introduce them to a few more members of the pride, including experienced ‘babysitter’ Dakota and big half-sister Hernatty.

Head Keeper of Carnivores, Kasha Carter, said, “Once we opened the door to let Amber and the cubs out on safari, Amber came out a couple of times first, to check that everything was fine. She then encouraged her cubs to follow her out and all three were fairly confident but kept close to mum.

“They spent a lot of time near the lion house initially but soon started playing with sticks and darting in and out of the bushes. We also witnessed them seeing a passing gull and butterfly for the first time, which they were really interested in.”

She continued, “Once we knew they were settled, we let half-sister Hernatty and fellow pride member Dakota out, to help build their confidence (and for some moral support for Amber!). Hernatty has never seen cubs before, so was very cautious at first, but began playing with them and even showed them new areas of the habitat to explore and things to do, such as watching the hoofstock on the other side of the fence line! It has been a very tiring day for them all, so they also had to fit in many power naps to help with the excitement!”

The trio arrived on 13 April 2025, amidst a baby boom, following the birth of three Sumatran tiger cubs, an Indian rhino calf, two blesbok calves and a barasingha fawn.

Keepers said that the birth of the cubs was significant, as lions are classed as ‘vulnerable’ in the wild by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature).

This is due to recent studies showing that lions now exist in only about 6% of their historic range, demonstrating severe declines from habitat loss and prey depletion, as well as human-lion conflict.

All animals born at the Park this year have names beginning with ‘N’, hence why all three cubs have names starting with this letter.

Now that the cubs have had their first day out, the next steps will be slowly introducing them to the rest of the pride out on the safari, starting with the females and then eventually the males, including Dad, Tsavo. First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app.