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SCMP’s Asia desk

Three lions have died of suspected heatstroke at Tokyo’s Tama Zoological Park amid Japan’s record-breaking “cruelly hot” summer as officials boost animal welfare measures to cope with climate-fuelled extreme weather.
The zoo’s lion exhibit has been suspended since July 23 when 10 out of its 16 big cats started showing “loss of appetite and decreased activity” from the heat, a spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday.
The sick animals received treatment, but three lionesses succumbed to the brutal temperatures: one last Tuesday, another on Friday, and a third on Sunday. The others are still being looked after.
“According to our veterinarian, the cause of the deaths is suspected to be heatstroke” as dehydration and multiple organ failure were observed, the spokeswoman said.
Summer’s sweltering heat came early this year, she said. “Heat arrived suddenly after the rainy season was over” in late July.
“Even though lions are thought to be resistant to heat, zookeepers have been strengthening countermeasures to cope with Japan’s summer heat in recent years. Heat here comes with high humidity; that is different from heat with dry air in Africa.”
The zoo also deployed fans, air conditioners and water sprays to help the lions beat the heat, Kyodo reported.
Climate change is bringing about more frequent and intense extreme heat events across the world, scientists say.


Temperatures in Japan have surpassed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent weeks, qualifying for the new kokushobi, or “cruelly hot”, designation. July 21 was the country’s first official kokushobi day.
Introduced by Japan’s Meteorological Agency in April, the term comes after the country sweltered through its hottest summer since records began in 1898 last year. According to the BBC, last year’s summer temperatures were 2.36 degrees above average.
Heatstroke alerts have been issued for 17 prefectures for Tuesday, NHK said.
Nearly 18,600 people were taken to hospital for heatstroke between July 20 and 26, Agence France-Presse quoted the fire and disaster management agency as saying. Of those, 45 were pronounced dead on arrival.
Every year, about 1,300 people die from heat-related symptoms in Japan, which aims to halve that number by 2030.
The punishing weather also compounded problems in the earthquake-hit Kumamoto prefecture, where many areas logged highs of 35 degrees or above on Monday. Some places reached 40 degrees for the first time on record, Kyodo reported.

More than 8,000 people displaced by last Tuesday’s magnitude-7.1 quake remain in evacuation shelters amid persistent water outages affecting about 45,000 households. An estimated 12,000 buildings sustained damage in the disaster.
Authorities are also worried about the effect of the heatwave on evacuees who have chosen to sleep in their vehicles for privacy. A woman in her seventies taking shelter in her car was found dead from a suspected heatstroke last week.
The prefecture was working to get evacuees into secondary housing from Tuesday. “We will make preparations so that evacuees can relocate as soon as possible,” Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura told The Japan Times on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet approved the release of about 24.2 billion yen (US$150 million) from reserve funds for quake support measures, Kyodo reported.


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3 lions perish at Tokyo zoo as Japan bakes in ‘cruelly hot’ summer

Three lions have died of suspected heatstroke at Tokyo’s Tama Zoological Park in Japan. Photo: Tokyo Zoological Park Society/Kyodo

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Authorities at Tama Zoological Park have strengthened cooling measures to help the animals beat the heat


Authorities at Tama Zoological Park have strengthened cooling measures to help the animals beat the heat.


Extreme weather

Animals

3 lions perish at Tokyo zoo as Japan bakes in ‘cruelly hot’ summer

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Authorities at Tama Zoological Park have strengthened cooling measures to help the animals beat the heat

Authorities at Tama Zoological Park have strengthened cooling measures to help the animals beat the heat