She’s so cute! This little ball of fur is a rare African white lion cub… and we need your help to name her

THIS cute four-week old white lion cub is the latest rare addition to a UK wildlife sanctuary … and you can help to name her!

Visitors to the Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, will be able to name the female cub that was born on January 26, by taking part in a competition over the Easter holidays.

It is the fourth white lion at the 24-acre wildlife park and joins its mother six-year-old Kya, first-time dad Moto, five, and Kya’s first cub Zulu, three.

For now, visitors can steal a peek at the ‘chunky and feisty’ 5-kilo cub through the window of the lion house but she will be released into the enclosure by April.

Staff at Paradise Wildlife Park care for the cub

Director of the park, Lynn Whitnall, said: “So far, she is doing really well and the keepers are all very pleased with her progress. This is Kya’s second time as a mum, and she is doing an absolutely brilliant job.”

White lions occur very rarely in the wild and are born to tawny coloured parents, when both the mother and father carry the recessive gene that causes the white fur, often appearing as little as once every 20 to 30 years.

They are not albino but leucistic, which is a reduction in the pigmentation of the skin, and have normal coloured eyes.

Regarded as god-like entities in African folklore, it is believed their majestic coats serve as a representation of the good found in all creatures and people lucky enough to gaze upon this rare gift will be blessed with health, happiness and luck.

Scales … the cub is weighed

Head keeper, Yianna Cooling said: “All being well, we should be hearing the patter of lots of tiny feet over the course of this year!”

For more information about the Paradise Wildlife Park, that supports the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, and to enter the naming competition, go to www.pwpark.com.

The birth may be one of several to come at the park as there have been a raft of new arrivals over the last few months including a snow leopard, red ruffed lemurs, red pandas and African penguins.

Fun time … the cub at play

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