Love is in the air at the Moncton Zoo. Marshall the lion has been lonely these past three weeks since his lifelong companion, Shirley, died of cancer.

Zoo Manager Bruce Dougan says Marshall has been taking it pretty hard.

"Certainly if you're going to read into Marshall's behaviour you can say he's despondent, he's depressed, that sort of thing," he says. "He certainly misses her. He seems to be looking for her."

The future looks bright for Marshall, however. Wednesday morning a nine-month-old female lion cub arrived from a zoo in Ontario.

Marshall's first reaction to his new mate was one of interest and that was a relief says Dougan.

"But we're going to take our time, take it very slowly and introduce them over a three-week period or so," he says. "We want this to be successful so we're just going to take our time."

While Marshall and his new friend get to know each other, zoo staff have one small problem. Their newest lion has yet to be named. They're asking anyone with ideas to e-mail the Magnetic Hill Zoo (bruce.dougan@moncton.org). They do ask only that you keep her African heritage in mind when suggesting a name.