By Bejay Browne
THE first Siberian tiger was born in Cyprus last week and the female cub is being hand reared at ‘Pafos Zoo’ by the owner’s son after her mother rejected her, leaving her outside in the cold.
Ioulios Christoforou, who is training to be a veterinarian, has been hand feeding her every few hours with a special formula.
“As the mother is a bit young, she is only four, and as it’s her first cub, she obviously felt like she couldn’t handle it, so she took the baby out in the cold and just left it there,” Christoforou said. “We were closely monitoring the situation, but after half a day, we intervened, otherwise she would’ve died. I’m in love with her, she’s amazing.”
He said that Siberian or Amur tigers are facing extinction in the wild, with only close to 400 left. He said the zoo’s wants to help reintroduce the stunning creatures back into their natural habitat.
“The numbers in the wild have been greatly reduced due to poaching, habitat destruction and pollution. Our dream is to keep a steady population in the zoos and introduce a new blood line. A tiger suitable for release needs to be raised by its parents, a hand reared cub wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild, and this is what we are hoping for in the future.”
Head curator Neophytos Demitriou said that parents Bonnie and Clyde arrived at the zoo as part of an exchange a few years ago, and that staff recently got an idea the female was pregnant as she began gaining weight.
“We kept a close eye on her and she gave birth at 97 days; cubs can be born anywhere between 90 to 110 days.”
Demitriou said that preparations were made in anticipation of the new arrival and they realised she had given birth by her abnormal behaviour.
“We saw that Bonnie remained in the tiger house all day, she only came out to take the food and went back in again. Later we heard the sound like a very loud kitten.”
Demitriou is no stranger to hand rearing as he has just spent seven months hand rearing Joey – a baby kangaroo – at home and carrying her around in a special pouch. Her mother rejected her and dropped her out of her pouch, he said.
“She is called Mercedes and she follows me around wherever I go.”
The tiger cub’s eyes are still closed and will open in around three weeks, Christoforou said.
“We are checking her all the time, and I’m feeding her 100 mg of milk every four hours.
She is gaining 100-150 grammes a day.”
Despite a shaky start, the cub is doing well and seems strong. However, her carer said she’s still susceptible to disease, parasites and faces many other difficulties.
“She will open her eyes and will need eight weeks of hand rearing. At 5-8 weeks she will start taking some meat as well as milk and then we will know that everything is as it should be. She is strong, and after a sad start, we are all very excited.”
Christoforou noted that as the cub is being hand reared she may not be accepted back as part of the group, but as she’s female that might help, he said.
At around eight months, the cub will become strong and dangerous and close contact with humans will have to stop, he said.
“Tigers like to play a lot and are one of the best predators in the wild; they can kill bears. We will have to take a step back as it will be dangerous for us and we would also be putting her life in danger.”
According to Simon Holley, the zoo’s marketing manager, the public will be invited to choose a name for the zoo’s latest addition.
“In the coming days, we will ask people to suggest a name for her via our Facebook page.”
Holley said that another new attraction is planned for next year.
“In spring 2015, we are set to open a walk-in aviary, where visitors will have a chance to get close and feed some of the Lorikeet birds with a special nectar formula. The construction is up already and the birds are in there, we’re just getting them used to being hand fed.”
The zoo was initially started as a private venture by Christos Christoforou who has a passion for birds and wildlife, to house his enormous private collection of birds. But he later decided to open the park to the public.
The zoo took three years to complete and opened its doors in September 2003.
It covers an area of 100,000 sq.m. and is now home to lions, tigers, giraffes, penguins and a number of successful breeding programmes are in place.
www.pafoszoo.com
