People in Wuhan, the capital of Central China's Hubei Province, have been urged to stay on the lookout for a 47-day-old escaped lion.

Local policemen have been trying various methods, including searching local forests, sprinkling sleeping potions and using large nets in the search for the little lion who escaped from Wuhan Forest Wild Animal Zoo last Friday, but seven days of searching have yet to deliver any results.

The lion fled from the 266-hectare zoo at about 6 pm on July 18 .

According to a zoo source, the animal handler, who should have watched over the lion for four hours, was absent from his post at that time.

The 10-kilogram lion was always held by tourists for photos and never threatened visitors, a policeman of the Caidian Regional Police Station surnamed Liu, told China Daily.

At 7 pm on July 18, a villager found the little lion and called the police immediately. The local police, the zoo and the forest bureau arrived on the spot quickly. But their actions probably frightened the lion and made it run into the forest.

Because of the large area of forest in the zoo and the high temperature, it was hard to find the small lion, Wang Zhigang, an animal handler at the zoo told China Daily on Friday.

The zoo, lying alongside the Youzidong Lake in Wuhan's Caidian region, is famous for being the first establishment to allow wild animals to roam in the forest.

To improve the search efforts, the police offer rewards of 4,000 yuan (US$483) to anyone who finds the lion alive and 2,000 yuan (US$242) to anyone who finds the lion dead.

Li Shasha, a zoo worker, said the escape was unprecedented.

"We will put several cages with little lions in the forest, hoping that the cries would draw the lost lion back," Li said.

Li added that the Forestry Bureau also tried to predict the direction of the lion according to its behaviour, and arranged for people to stay near places where the lion could look for drinking water.

Policeman Liu said the local government and police had paid great attention to the search as the lion could attack people and livestock if it survives for five months.

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