Tomcat APR native library not loaded *even* when present and configured

Tomcat APR native library not loaded *even* when present and configured

The system is Ubuntu 13.04 (64-bit). I compiled the latest (1.4.8) library
(process described here) and the files are readable by all:
$ ll /usr/local/apr/lib
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8351 Sep 12 19:29 apr.exp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1608792 Sep 12 19:29 libapr-1.a
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 965 Sep 12 19:29 libapr-1.la*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Sep 12 19:29 libapr-1.so -> libapr-1.so.0.4.8*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Sep 12 19:29 libapr-1.so.0 ->
libapr-1.so.0.4.8*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 925622 Sep 12 19:29 libapr-1.so.0.4.8*
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 12 19:29 pkgconfig/
The environment variable is set in .bashrc and it's loaded:
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/apr/lib
I launched Tomcat's Java with -XshowSettings:properties which shows
java.library.path contains that path.
java.library.path = /usr/local/apr/lib
/usr/java/packages/lib/amd64
/usr/lib64
/lib64
/lib
/usr/lib
Still, when Tomcat starts I get a message it didn't find it even though it
displays the path to that directory.
Sep 12, 2013 8:14:12 PM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener init
INFO: The APR based Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal
performance in production environments was not found on the
java.library.path:
/usr/local/apr/lib:/usr/java/packages/lib/amd64:/usr/lib64:/lib64:/lib:/usr/lib
I'm really at a loss what could be the cause.
Thank you very much for any pointers.