The Taipei Zoo is seeking to import a lion to keep its only lion, who is old and ill, company, a zoo official said on Wednesday.

"We are contacting several foreign zoos, hoping that they can give us a lion in exchange for some of our animals. This is not easy because we must find a lion and must make sure that lion can get along well with our old lion Shih Chong （獅忠）," Taipei Zoo spokesman Chin Shih-chien （金仕謙） told reporters.

Chin made the statement in response to a report in the Chinese language Apple Daily, which claimed Shih Chong, a 26-year-old African male lion, is suffering from malnutrition and neglect.

The paper said Shih Chong is skin and bones and lies on the ground most of the time. The paper also said that in the past eight years, six lions had died at the zoo because of neglect.

However, zoo spokesman Chin rebutted the accusation, saying the zoo had taken good care of all its lions including Shih Chong, who was taken in by the zoo after being abandoned by a circus in 1991.

"We provide him with a healthy diet by giving him beef, mutton, pork, rats and cat feed, as well as vitamin E and calcium," Chin said.

"The average lifespan of a lion is 20 years. Shih Chong is 26, which translates to 90 to 100 years of human life. His kidneys are failing, but otherwise he is fine. He likes to lie down in the sun because it is winter," he said.

Shih Chong is the only lion at Taipei Zoo now. Chin said the other lions died because they were abandoned by their owners and were ill when they were taken in by the zoo.