Rare tigers settle in at zoo
2008-06-20 20:46
Anchorage, Alaska - The Alaska Zoo has welcomed two new rare tigers.
The Amur tigers - more commonly known as Siberian tigers - arrived at the zoo on Thursday after being taken from Syracuse, New York, to Newark, New Jersey, and then flown to Anchorage.
They were born at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse and recently turned four-years-old. They weigh about 204kg each and are still growing.
The tigers, named Korol and Kunali, are getting accustomed to their new home, Alaska Zoo Director Pat Lampi said. The plan is to introduce them to the public on Saturday, the summer solstice, when the zoo will be open until midnight.
Meanwhile, the tigers are passing the time in their interior dens. "They are beautiful," Lampi said. "I just know these guys will thrive here."
Siberian tigers are the largest of the big cats, weighing up to 226kg, and they live between 15 and 20 years. There are believed to be about 400 of the critically endangered cats in the wild.
While zoo staff were elated by the tigers' arrival, the cats weren't so convinced that Alaska was the place to be. Korol's snarls and roars reverberated against the walls of his den several hours after his arrival.
"A grumpy tiger"
Perhaps jet lag had something to do with it, Lampi said. The tigers were given a sedative to load them into their crates at the Syracuse zoo. Once on the truck and headed to the airport, they were given a shot to reverse the sedative's affect.
"That's a grumpy tiger," Lampi told reporters and television crews standing outside Korol's steel-barred den.
The tigers' new home is a half-acre exhibit that includes a hill, wooded area and pools.
Lampi said Alaska's climate is ideal for the big cats. It is similar to where they live in the Russian Far East. Russia's tigers and a handful in neighbouring China are called Amur tigers because they live in the Amur River Basin.
The zoo has had Amur tigers before: Martha, and Al and Steve, her offspring.
Like their predecessors, Korol and Kunali were part of the Amur tiger Species Survival Plan, a co-operative breeding programme among zoos to ensure the species' survival. Amur tigers are at risk because of habitat loss, human encroachment and poaching.
It is unlikely, however, that Korol and Kunali will be bred because their genetics are already well-represented in the captive population, Lampi said.
- SAPA