On 2nd August 2026, a 15-year-old lioness named Luena died at Tama Zoological Park in Tokyo, Japan, the third lion to die there in less than a week as Japan endures several heatwaves.
Ten of the sixteen lions held at the zoo have shown symptoms including loss of appetite and decreased activity since mid-July. A three-year-old female named Mugi died on 28th July, followed three days later by an eleven-year-old female named Ichigo. The zoo’s veterinary team believes the cause of death to be heatstroke, having observed dehydration and multiple organ failure in the lionesses, but not acknowledging any responsibility on the part of the zoo operators.
The zoo enclosure, where visitors are normally driven through in zebra-striped “safari” buses, has been closed to the public until further notice. Several lions remain under treatment, and the zoo has been using water sprays, industrial fans, and intravenous fluids to keep the remaining lions alive.
Japan sweltered through its hottest summer on record last year, and parts of the country have reached 40 degrees Celsius in recent weeks, a threshold now given the official designation “cruelly hot day” (difficult to know if this anthropomorphism of weather is just a translation issue). Close to 18,600 humans were hospitalised for heatstroke between 20th and 26th July alone, with 45 pronounced dead on arrival. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, 34 locations nationwide have hit 40 degrees Celsius or higher this summer, breaking last year’s record.
PETA said, “The lions were born, lived, and died in confinement, deprived of everything that makes life worth living for a wild animal … Zoos are not rescues or sanctuaries; they exist to display animals for profit, not to put animals’ needs first.”
