This week we had two major procedures. We were health checking our two Sumatran Tigers prior to them
being moved to another zoo.

Before we move any animals, big or small, we check their health status to make sure they are in good health and fit for travel. This often includes hands on, blood sampling and looking into mouth, ears and eyes, so it goes without saying that we cannot
do a full health check on a fully grown tiger without anaesthetic.

The keepers who are  looking after our tigers have been training them for a while now and the training is so successful they can get the tigers to almost lean against the bars so the vet was able to hand inject the tigers with an anaesthetic through the bars. This is far less stressful than darting and as the tigers are so used to this training they hardly notice anything unusual until they wake up after the procedure, as it was the case this time.

The first tiger we checked was Reika, the female. While Heather, the veterinary nurse, kept an eye on the vitals and monitored the anaesthetic, Tai, the vet, did a thorough examination. She checked inside the ears, mouth and eyes. Felt for anything unusual in the abdomen, took blood samples and various swabs and finally gave the paws and claws a good check over.

Everything looked fine as expected, the next day Lumpur went through the same procedure, and both tigers are doing very well and will now be ready for the move,. They will move together to the same zoo for their retirement years. Moving two tigers to the same place is rather unusual, but it is great for Reika and Lumpur as they have been living together for more than ten years and clearly enjoy each other’s company and although we will be sad to see them go we are happy they get to go to their new home together.

Once they have gone we will look forward to getting to know our new tigers, they will be arriving later this autumn and then we be looking ahead to the opening of out new amazing Tiger Territory in the spring of 2013.