Shocking images of five starving and sick lions with their ribs protruding spark campaign to free the animals from nightmare zoo in Sudan

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Online calls are growing to help save five 'malnourished and sick' African lions held at a park in Sudan's capital, with some demanding the creatures be shifted to a better habitat.

The five lions are held in cages at Khartoum's Al-Qureshi Park in an upscale district of the capital, but for weeks now they have been suffering from shortages of food and medicine.

'I was shaken when I saw these lions at the park... their bones are protruding from the skin,' wrote Osman Salih on Facebook as he launched an online campaign under the slogan #Sudananimalrescue.

For weeks now, five lions held at Khartoum's Al-Qureshi Park in an upscale district of the capital have been suffering from shortages of food and medicine

A sick and malnourished lioness sleeps in its cage at the Al-Qureshi Park in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. One of five sick lions held at the park died today

Flies gather on the face of the sick lioness as she sleeps in her cage at the Al-Qureshi Park in the Sudanese capital Khartoum

A lioness with her ribs protruding appears weak and frail as she sits in her cage at the park in the Sudanese capital

The lioness rests her head on the concrete slabs. For weeks now, the five lions have been suffering from shortages of food and medicine

Flies swarm over the lioness's face as she basks in the sunlight. Online calls are growing to save the lions from the nightmare zoo

Park officials said the lions' conditions had deteriorated recently with some losing almost two-thirds of their body weight

The park where the lions are being kept is managed by Khartoum municipality but also funded in part by private donors

'I urge interested people and institutions to help them.'

Park officials and medics said the lions' conditions deteriorated over the past few weeks, with some losing almost two-thirds of their body weight.

'Food is not always available, so often we buy it from our own money to feed them,' Essamelddine Hajjar, a manager at Al-Qureshi park told AFP.

'Food is not always available, so often we buy it from our own money to feed them,' one of the park managers said 

The five lions at Khartoum's Al-Qureshi Park have been suffering from shortages of food and medicine for several weeks

An online campaign under the slogan #Sudananimalrescue has been launched to try and help the starving lions

The park is managed by Khartoum municipality but also funded in part by private donors.

Sudan is in the midst of a worsening economic crisis, led by soaring food prices and foreign currency shortage.

On Sunday, crowds of citizens, volunteers and journalists flocked to the park to see the lions after their photographs went viral on social media networks.

One of the five cats was tied with a rope and was fed fluids through a drip as it recovered from dehydration, an AFP correspondent who toured the park reported.

Sudan is in the midst of a worsening economic crisis, led by soaring food prices and foreign currency shortage

A malnourished lion walks in his cage at the Al-Qureshi park in the Sudanese capital Khartoum

 Sudanese citizens and activists have launched a social media campaign to save five lions from starvation after complaints that they were not receiving their daily quota of meat

Chunks of rotten meat covered in flies lay scattered near the cages.

The overall condition of the park itself was also affecting the animals' health, another official at the park said.

'They are suffering from severe illnesses. They are sick and appear to be malnourished,' said Moataz Mahmoud, one of the caretakers at the park.

It is unclear how many lions are in Sudan, but several are at the Dinder park along the border with Ethiopia.

African lions are classified as a 'vulnerable' species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Their population dropped 43 percent between 1993 and 2014, with only around 20,000 alive today.

The overall condition of the park itself was also affecting the animals' health, another official at the park said

Lions are classified as a 'vulnerable' species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)