Zoo loses second cub but third remains strong
A second endangered tiger cub has been euthanized at the Toronto Zoo, the zoo announced Friday, just three weeks after it celebrated its first tiger birth in 14 years.
The female cub, which was nicknamed “Small” but hadn’t yet been officially named, was born with irreparable heart defects and had not been gaining weight, the zoo said in a post on its official Facebook page.
“We’re just crushed,” said Dolf DeJong, CEO of the Toronto Zoo. “This is the type of thing that there is nothing that prepares you for it.”
The death leaves just a single cub remaining from a highly anticipated litter of three Amur tigers, the first tigers born at the zoo since 2007.
Nearly two weeks ago, a male cub from the same litter was euthanized after it fell ill after the birth and did not recover. It was later found to have severe liver damage.
The surviving cub, a female nicknamed “Big,” has been thriving, DeJong said.
“To still have one is important and we’ll be doing everything we can to get her where she needs to be so she can continue the legacy of the species.”
Amur tigers, also known as Siberian tigers, are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which estimates the global population in the wild to be about 360, mostly located in southeast Russia. Its primary threats are illegal hunting and habitat loss.
The mother and father of the cubs — Mazyria (or “Mazy”) and Vasili — have been at the Toronto Zoo since October 2019 and May 2018, respectively.
They were paired to breed as part of a Species Survival Plan, a co-operative population management program by members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The zoo population of Amur tigers could help to diversify the gene pool of the species in the wild, if necessary.
“It’s so much bigger than just us,” DeJong said, adding that the zoo will be investigating to see if they can determine what may have caused the birth defects in the two cubs.
When announcing Mazyria’s pregnancy, the Toronto Zoo noted that, at nearly 14 years, she would be one of the oldest Amur tigers to give birth in the Species Survival Plan population. Females can give birth up to about age 14, the zoo said, but reproductive success “declines significantly” after age 7.
DeJong said it’s not clear whether the tiger’s advanced age contributed to the birth defects.