'The Last Lion of the Atlas'
By Riad HATTOUTI
© 2020
Oil on Canvas.
80W x  120H x 2L
 
The majestic animal, also known as the Barbary lion and once common across north Africa, was eventually declared extinct after the 1922 hunt that saw it vanish from its natural environment.
But, remarkably, a few dozen individuals survived in captivity, and the newly opened Rabat zoo is fighting to save the bloodline and raise numbers to a viable population.
"For a long time, it was thought that the species had disappeared. But it turned out that Sultan Mohammed V (the current king's grandfather) had some Atlas lions in his private park," said Abderrahim Salhi, the zoo's head of operations.
The exotic park of the sultan, who became king at independence, had been supplied by tribesmen who hunted the mountain predators and offered them to their ruler as a tribute and proof of allegiance.
"After Morocco's independence (in 1956), the Atlas lions from the royal park formed the nucleus of the zoo and became a symbol of pride,"