A rescue park has shared its heartbreak at the death of a beautiful and rare white lioness Imara aged 11.

The stunning feline, whose species was brought back from extinction, was a resident at The Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden near Ashford.

Keepers first noticed Imara was ill after a blood test, and noticed more recently she had “not been her usual self”.

Further investigation under anaesthetic revealed she was in the end stage of liver failure, and the decision was made not to wake her up.

A spokesman for the sanctuary said: “On Monday 8th April we sadly had to say goodbye to Imara, one of our white lionesses.

“Imara will always be remembered as a beautiful cat, who was very loving to her big cat friends.

“Her roar which would ring across the Sanctuary grounds will be greatly missed by all who knew her.”

White lions were technically extinct in their natural habitat from 1992 until 2004 however, following an intense captive breeding program they were reintroduced into the wild.

Imara was born at the sanctuary in 2013 along with three siblings in the biggest lion cub litter the site has seen,

She was separated from her parents at 18 months, as is natural for lions, and lived with her brother Ngozi.

In July 2022 they were moved into a new bigger enclosure and quickly established their new territory with lots of roaring.

Ngozi sadly passed away in November 2022, and the next year bonded with a new playmate, Kasanga.

The sanctuary spokesman added: “On her last health check, blood results showed that her kidney values were raised, meaning that they were working harder than they should be for a cat of her age.

“She was then put on a long-lasting course of treatment to help with their function.

“Recently Imara had not been her usual self and so she was being closely monitored.

“Due to no improvement, she was seen by the Sanctuary’s amazing partner vets at IZVG where it was found that unfortunately she was in the end stage of kidney failure, and so it was decided that the kindest thing was not to bring her around from the anaesthetic.”