Cancer, not ball, killed zoo lion Midas

The controversy behind a lion's death at a Las Vegas zoo early this month is over -- cancer, not a rubber ball, was the cause of death, the veterinarian who performed the necropsy says.

Lab reports from tissue samples taken from Midas, a 10-year-old lion at the Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park, revealed advanced cancer of the colon and the liver, said Dr. Randy Ceballos, an exotic animal veterinarian who is under contract at the zoo.

"Absolutely, it was cancer (that killed Midas)," Ceballos said.

He said it wasn't possible to determine if the tumors were cancerous at the time of the necropsy. But evidence of a growth in the colon was visible the day Midas was euthanized, the same day the necropsy was performed.

Zoo Director Pat Dingle made no mention of this in statements on June 5, the day after the cat was euthanized.

Dingle said no one could tell if the growths were cancerous at that time.

"I didn't want to call you back on suspicions," he said. "I wanted to state facts."

Dingle said his only fact at the time was a half-chewed rubber football found in the cage several days before Midas became ill.

He said he still theorizes that Midas' death may not have been from cancer and that a bowel obstruction, possibly from the football, may have put pressure on his organs.

"We found a lot of blood in the abdomen," he said. "To be fair, our vet doesn't think that the bowel obstruction was likely."

Ceballos said he couldn't find any evidence of an obstruction when he performed the necropsy.

"There was no rubber football in that cat, from the stomach to the butt," he said.

Midas' rapid sickness wasn't an indication that a bowel obstruction was more likely than cancer, either, according to a spokeswoman from the San Diego Zoo.

"Sometimes symptoms of cancer are not visible until months later (after tumors form)," said Yadira Galindo. Sometimes symptoms are visible right away, she said.

"It all depends."

Dingle said that employees from a neighboring Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada thrift store had a history of throwing objects into the lions' cage, so it was reasonable to assume the ball may have caused an obstruction.

The fact that cancer was the cause of death doesn't change his perspective, because he never blamed the death on Catholic Charities, he said.

"What we blamed on Catholic Charities was that their employees had thrown things over the fence. That did in fact happen, was happening, and has periodically over the years," he said. "But we never blamed the organization."

The Catholic Charities store on Rancho Drive temporarily closed its doors this week, but a spokeswoman said that had nothing to do with the controversy.

"It just happened to be at the same time," said Sharon Mann, community relations director at Catholic Charities. She noted that the store on Tropicana Avenue also will be temporarily closed.

"We're in the process of reevaluating the programs due to the economy," she said.

Dingle said Midas' cancer and the rubber football may have just been bad timing, although he said he's not a great believer in coincidences.

But Midas was nearing the end of his life span, and cancer is very common in animals, he said. "We lost another lion to cancer at age 11," he said.

"These things happen."

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.