The Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on Tuesday welcomed a lion and a lioness, who were brought from the Sakkarbaug Zoological Park in Gujarat. The Maharashtra Forest Department said they will soon write to their Gujarat counterpart for another pair of the big cats.

Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar released the pair of lions into the secondary enclosure at the SGNP, at an event attended by MLAs Prakash Surve and Pravin Darekar; MP Gopal Shetty; principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) (wildlife), Maharashtra, Mahip Gupta; Clement Ben, additional PCCF (wildlife western region); and SGNP director G Mallikarjun along with other officials.