Gracy may have no money and not even a vote, but she has friends who care.

Thiruvananthapuram Zoo authorities have imported an expensive medicine from the US solely for Gracy, a six-year-old Asiatic lioness that has for the past four years been suffering from a bacterial skin infection. Each injection costs ₹15,000.

Initially, the infection behind the legs triggered itching. Gracy would scratch it continually on the surface of her enclosure, making the wound deeper and worsening her condition.

A deeply worried K.R. Nikesh Kiran, the veterinarian looking after her, initially suspected skin cancer and was mightily relieved when the results came out negative.

However, the biopsy report from the Chief Disease Investigation Laboratory in Palode, Thiruvananthapuram, was not entirely reassuring.

It gave a diagnosis of chronic atopic dermatitis, for which — the team of vets treating Gracy immediately realised — no medicine that provided a permanent cure was available in India.

What she required was cefovecin, a long-acting antibiotic that needed to be brought from the US. The authorities did not disappoint. “We have given Gracy four doses, each costing close to ₹15,000. Her condition has now greatly improved and she is happy,” Nikesh told The Telegraph.

“This is the first time in Kerala that a veterinary antibiotic has been imported from the US.”

Gracy was born to Ayush and Aishwarya at the zoo.

“The zoo authorities gave special care to Gracy as she had deformities to her legs because of in-breeding. We have decided to send her to the Vandalur Zoological Gardens, Chennai, soon as part of a bloodline exchange programme,” Nikesh said.

“It would see the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo getting another lioness. This way, we will get good offspring of Asiatic Lions here.”

Apart from Nikesh, the vet team that tended to Gracy was made up of C. Hareesh (laboratory investigations), V.G. Ashwathy and Aju Alexander.