Big cat in a tube: animal drama about well-known Munich circus lions

The king of Circus Krone, the lion King Tonga, is sick.

A biopsy should clarify how bad things are for him.

The investigation produces amazing images.

Munich / Gessertshausen - What a picture: A huge lion lies in a computer tomograph (CT).

And it's not just any big cat lying here, but the lion King Tonga, king of the Circus Krone *.

Getting him down the tube wasn't easy, says star trainer Martin Lacey Jr.

“The device can withstand up to 300 kilograms, King Tonga is only a little lighter.” Before that, the animal was anesthetized on a sick bed with hydraulics.

Above it he could be lifted into the CT.

Circus Krone Munich: Lion dad King Tonga in the computer tomograph

The story behind the spectacular pictures is sad.

"I had the feeling for a long time that something was wrong with him," says Lacey.

When the animal stopped eating and drinking, he immediately took him to the doctor.

In the veterinary clinic in Gessertshausen near Augsburg, the doctors took blood from the 19-year-old lion.

The values: inconspicuous.

But Lacey still believes something is wrong.

"I think there could be something with the liver, his eyes are slightly yellow," says the lion master - hence the way into the tube.

Lions in Munich: King Tonga was a gift from a Saudi prince

Then the result: the liver is actually not okay, the doctors order a biopsy to find out what is going on.

“I thought for a long time with the doctors what we should do.

Most important to me is that King Tonga doesn't suffer, ”says Lacey.

King Tonga grew up in Circus Krone.

A prince from Saudi Arabia gave the then small lions to the circus in 2002.

Since then he has become a dad of white lions several times (we reported *) and even a grandfather.

There is only one thing left for Lacey: to wait anxiously for the results of the examination.

"I haven't slept the last few nights, I'm very tense," he says, worried about his protégé.

There was also a lion drama recently in Nuremberg: the male Subali was euthanized at the age of 15.

Now the zoo is facing serious allegations from PETA.