Milwaukee Co. Zoo announces birth of a baby snow leopard
For the first time since 2014, a new snow leopard cub was born at the Milwaukee County Zoo, officials announced on Friday.
The female cub, which will turn two months old on Saturday, is the first offspring of her mother, Oyra, and father, Asa. Oyra and her baby are in the offexhibit den together and doing well, animal care staff reported. The mother and cub will remain off-exhibit for several more weeks to bond and benefit from “quiet time.”
The cub is currently nursing from her mother on a regular basis and will continue to nurse until she’s a few months old. But she’ll soon get her first taste of meat, and she’ll also start eating a diet of solid food.
Both the cubs’ parents were acquired by the Milwaukee County Zoo through the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Gifts to the Community.
Father, Asa, age 6, came to Milwaukee by way of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse. Mother Oyra, also 6, arrived in 2016 from Zoo Zurich in Switzerland.
Oyra’s genetic lines are considered valuable because her mother, Dshamilja, was born in the wild and was part of the European Endangered Species Programme. Those genetic lines will be passed to the new cub.
On July 8, the cub weighed about eight pounds. She’s healthy, with good vision and up-to-date vaccinations.
The zoo has set up an Amazon Wish List with items that will help the cub’s development and enhance her natural instincts and behaviors.