First date for 2 rare tigers ends in death

LONDON » The courtship went on for 10 whole days. They were kept apart, but tantalizingly close enough so that each could see, hear and smell the other.

When the matchmakers believed that the time and the place were right — Friday at London Zoo — the rare Sumatran tiger called Asim and a female named Melati were put in the same enclosure together.

He promptly killed her — moments after they were introduced for the first time.

The animal’s handlers scrambled in vain to intervene, the zoo said, “using loud noises, flares and alarms to try and distract the pair, but Asim had already overpowered Melati.”

Keepers eventually were able to shepherd Asim into a separate paddock so they could safely get to Melati, the zoo said. Vets then confirmed that she had died.

“Everyone at ZSL London Zoo is devastated by the loss of Melati, and we are heartbroken by this turn of events,” the zoo added in a statement.

Melati was 10 and had been a longtime resident of the zoo. Asim, 7, arrived from Ree Park Safari in Denmark on Jan. 29.

The head tiger keeper, Kathryn Sanders, had described Asim as “a handsome, confident cat who is known for being very affectionate with the ladies in his life — we’re hoping he’ll be the perfect mate for our beautiful Melati.”

The match was organized as part of a Europewide conservation program for Sumatran tigers, an endangered subspecies. The Sumatran tiger is found in the wild only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and the World Wide Fund for Nature says fewer than 400 exist, down from an estimated 1,000 in 1978.

The tigers were placed in the same enclosure after “careful monitoring,” the zoo said, in which experts “observed obvious positive signs, and felt it was the right time.” It added, “As with all big cats, introductions, however carefully planned, are always considered to be high-risk.”

The animals “were initially cautious,” but then the introduction “quickly escalated into a more aggressive interaction.”