'Bone lion' Barami beginning to thrive as he prepares to reunite with daughter at Cheongju Zoo

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'Bone lion' Barami beginning to thrive as he prepares to reunite with daughter at Cheongju Zoo

Published: 10 Apr. 2025, 13:33 Updated: 10 Apr. 2025, 14:42

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Barami, left, and his daughter, Gureumi [YONHAP]

Barami, a 21-year-old lion whose frail frame once earned him the somber nickname “bone lion,” is beginning a new chapter in his twilight years. After months of recovery and weight gain, Barami is set to be reunited with his daughter, Gureumi, at Cheongju Zoo in North Chungcheong.

Zoo officials announced Thursday that the father and daughter will soon share an enclosure, a significant step in what they are calling an “integration process.”

“We will begin the process of integrating the two lions into a shared enclosure,” the Cheongju Land Management Office said in a statement on Thursday. “Adaptation training will begin by allowing Barami and Gureumi to explore the main enclosure together, which serves as the coexistence space.”

Coexistence means that two or more male and female animals live in the same space. They go through a process of mutual encounters, cross-exposure training and scent adaptation.

“Barami and Gureumi have sniffed each other through the fence, but they still appear wary,” said Kim Jeong-ho, a veterinarian at Cheongju Zoo. “We’ll keep them in the main enclosure one at a time for now. Once they show no interest in each other, we’ll house them together.”

Barami, born in 2004 at Seoul Children’s Grand Park, lived alone in a small cage at Bugyeong Zoo in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang, since 2016. His skeletal appearance sparked public concern and campaigns by animal rights groups for his rescue.

In July 2023, he was transferred to Cheongju Zoo, where he has since regained his health and weight, eating about four kilograms of chicken and beef daily. Zoo staff named him Barami — meaning “wish” or “hope” in Korean — symbolizing a hope for a better life.

Despite his old age — roughly equivalent to over 100 human years — Barami is reportedly in stable health and currently lives with a 13-year-old female lion named Dodo.

Gureumi, born in 2017 to Barami and another lioness at Bugyeong Zoo, was relocated to Cheongju Zoo last August after the closure of Bugyeong Zoo. Prior to that, she had lived at a zoo in Gangneung, Gangwon. Since her arrival, she has been acclimating to her new environment in an 80-square-meter (861-square-feet) enclosure.

Barami is seen living together with a female lion, Dodo, at Cheonju Zoo in October 2023. [KIM SUNG-TAE]

“Considering that Barami and Dodo took about six months to adapt, I expect that Barami and Gureumi will take about the same amount of time to be housed together,” said Kim. “If they are housed together without sufficient adaptation training, there is a possibility that they will fight each other.”

“Wild animals remember each other’s scent when their mothers breastfeed and identify their offspring,” explained Kim. “Barami is a male and Gureumi was separated from her mother immediately after birth and raised hand-raised by humans, so they do not know each other.”

Ahead of the integration, Gureumi underwent spaying surgery on April 1 to prevent inbreeding and reproductive system diseases. She recovered quickly, regaining her energy the next day.

Cheongju Zoo plans to begin the adaptation training for the two lions on Thursday afternoon, allowing visitors to observe the process from outside the enclosure.

“We hope many people will support Gureumi as she gets to run freely in the large main enclosure for the first time,” said a Cheongju Zoo official.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY CHOI JONG-KWON [[email protected]]