Sad news from Leipzig: Tiger cubs don't survive!

Sad news from Leipzig: Tiger cubs don't survive!

In sad news from Leipzig Zoo, the breeding of three Amur tiger cubs has failed. The cute little cats were born by tigress Yushka, but the first few hours when they were well cared for could not help overcome the challenges that followed. Zoo director Prof. Jörg Junhold reported that in the first few hours Yushka looked after her little ones, licked them and made her first attempts at sucking. But on Thursday afternoon the mother significantly reduced her care, which ultimately led to a dramatic outcome. After two days without adequate care, the young animals were weak and cold.

The decision to euthanize the animals was made by veterinarian Dr. Andreas Bernhard met to save them the suffering of starvation. Painfully, Junhold added that the outcome was sad, but he remains optimistic that Yushka will learn from this experience. In such a case, hand-rearing is excluded in order to ensure natural behavior and learning from the mother. Leipzig Zoo has been keeping an international tiger breeding book since the 1970s, which also records the populations in human care and helps to protect the species.

Challenges of hand rearing

Hand-raising animals can be successful in some cases, but it also involves risks. Zoo director Arne Lawrenz from Wuppertal explained in an interview that an imprint on humans can result in integration problems with other animals. An example of this is the bonobo monkey Bili, who is bullied by his group for being hand-raised.

Amur tigers are the largest cats in the world and live in Russia and China; their populations are critically endangered. It is estimated that only approximately 700 individuals exist in the wild, making their situation alarming. The main causes of the threat are habitat destruction, hunting and poaching. Hand-rearing is currently only used on very endangered species to ensure that mothers have the opportunity to adopt their young. In the past, similar situations occurred at Wuppertal Zoo in which not all of the young animals in a litter survived.

The path to a stable population

The Chemnitz Zoo and other institutions are committed to the goal of stabilizing the population of Amur tigers. This is done as part of a Europe-wide conservation breeding program (EEP) coordinated by the European Zoo Association EAZA. The participating zoos undertake to carefully manage their animal populations and document data about their animals in order to avoid inbreeding. The focus is not only on the number of animals kept, but also on the long-term genetic diversity of endangered animal species.

Overall, these events show how important it is to see modern zoos not just as places of entertainment, but as essential actors in nature conservation. Let's hope the future will be brighter for the Amur tigers and other endangered species.

Further information on this topic can be found on the website of MDR, Leipzig Zoo and VDZ to find.