Pouakai Zoo white tigers now at Pouakai

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

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White bengal tigers roar in to Pouakai Zoo | Stuff.co.nz
A trio of white tigers have arrived in Taranaki and are ready to roar for the public.

The rare white bengals come from Zion Wildlife Gardens in Northland and will live at New Plymouth's Pouakai Zoo for the next year.

Azra, Anila and Kahli, all young females, are three of only 120 white tigers in the world.

They were bred at the wildlife park for their pale fur and light blue eyes, using parents who also had the recessive white gene.

Zookeeper Bart Hartley, who went to Whangarei to pick up the tigers in a truck on Wednesday, said the girls were settling in well at their new home.

Mr Hartley said the trio spent Thursday in their den and were let out into the enclosure for the first time yesterday, to the displeasure of their fellow inhabitants.

"The lions got a bit fired up; they're a bit snarly about the tigers being on their turf," Mr Hartley said, as Aslan the male lion paced up and down his enclosure.

"But the tigers didn't take any notice, they've grown up around lions."

Vervet the monkey was also a bit put out, and barked his thoughts loudly from his pen for most of the morning.

The other monkeys, however, lost interest after only half an hour and went back to looking for food.

Meanwhile, the tigers inspected their den, their tree, their house and their specially-built pool, which proved an instant hit.

The tigers first urinated, then defecated into the pond before happily rolling around in it and drinking the water.

This particularly pleased Mr Hartley, as he spent Thursday cleaning the pond in anticipation of the tigers' release.

The cats will be kept in by a 4-metre fence with electricity running around the top.

They will eat about 4kg of either beef or horse meat each day to power their 150kg frames.

They had to be fed separately, inside, so they didn't fight over the meat.

Mr Hartley said the tigers' arrival hopefully marked the beginning of an ongoing relationship for the zoo with Zion, who were trying to move forward after a series of problems, including the death of a keeper.

The three tigers can be viewed at Pouakai from today.

There will be no interaction with the cats by either the keepers or the public in order to keep everyone safe.
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Another place I've never heard of - and my virus protection software is telling me in no uncertain terms not to go to their website (as a heads-up to everyone else).

What can you tell me about Pouakai?
 
Pouakai Zoo are members on Zoochat. Just ask any questions and they will be able to answer (I see them quite regularly logged on but they don't post very often)
 
Hello all... We are happy to answer questions regarding our Zoo. We are enjoying the beauty of the 3 White Royal Bengals, as have many people today from the Taranaki region. We dont post very often as we just enjoy the site and like to read all the good news about Zoo's all around the world.
 
Pouakai Zoo said:
Hello all... We are happy to answer questions regarding our Zoo. We are enjoying the beauty of the 3 White Royal Bengals, as have many people today from the Taranaki region. We dont post very often as we just enjoy the site and like to read all the good news about Zoo's all around the world.
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Hello Pouakai zoo,

Can you tell us something about the zoo and the animal species you keep there. Do you have a website?
 
Yes we do, I think thats the goal for most parks. We do projects when an opputunity arises. We are having 'fun' with our reptiles and would like our wee collection to increase.
 
Pouakai Zoo said:
Hello, yes we have a website Pouakai Zoo | NewPlymouth | Get up close with our animals.
We are a small privately owned Park, with a collection of primates, a small pride of Lions and now the 3 Begals. Also have Bobcats, Meerkat, Lemur and Zebra. Along with Birds and farm yard animals.:)
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Cheers. Are the bobcats capable of breeding? As I believe they must be the only ones in the region.

Is this a complete list of undomesticated mammals at the zoo?
- Lion
- Tiger
- Bobcat
- Meerkat
- Spider Monkey
- Capuchin
- Ring-tailed Lemur
- Zebra
 
Pouakai Zoo said:
Yes we do, I think thats the goal for most parks. We do projects when an opputunity arises. We are having 'fun' with our reptiles and would like our wee collection to increase.
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Are there any species of interest that you are keen to have in the short or long term?
 
We also have Vervet Monkey, Pig Tailed Macque, Bonnet Macques, Lar Gibbons, and you cant forget our famous blind Mallard Duck :):):):)
 
Excellent. When did you acquire the zoo, and did you start it yourself or purchase it from previous owners?
 
We have 2 female bobcats..mother and daughter. We know there are Bobcats at Franklin Zoo, because they were bred here at Pouakai Zoo. We would really love to get some more Meerkats as our poor fellow is now on his own, this is our next mission.
 
why is that the tigers are only with you for a year (according to the news article)? And if its not confidential, are they on loan from Zion for a fee or without charge?

I assume the wording of the article was a press release (or based on a press release) from yourselves, so I appreciate the note that the tigers are white due to a recessive gene (rather than bringing out the "extinct species" tripe).

And re the vervet(s), did you find out where they came from before Pouakai?
 
Hi The Vervets came from Perth Zoo...way back in 1994.
The Tigers are here on Loan from Zion Wildlife Gardens, for approx 12 to 15 months.
Yes it was important to point out they are not an extinct species.
 
After the 12 to 15 months are up, do you get an option to extend the loan or something like that? Otherwise it seems like you've got a big new (?) enclosure without its star attractions.
 
this article came out just five days after the initial article in this thread but I missed it (29 April)
Tigers at centre of ownership stoush - national | Stuff.co.nz
Taranaki's new white tigers are caught in the middle of a legal cat fight between television's Lion Man and his mother.

Lion Man Craig Busch says he owns the tigers and never gave permission for them to be moved, while his mother's company says it is the real owner.

The three female bengals arrived at Pouakai Zoo in New Plymouth last week from Zion Wildlife Gardens in Northland.

Zion is the park that featured in The Lion Man TV series, fronted by Mr Busch and his former partner.

It has been embroiled in a number of sagas in recent years, including the death of a keeper, an assault conviction against Mr Busch, and a legal battle between Mr Busch and his mother, Patricia Busch, following Mr Busch's dismissal from the park.

Now, Mr Busch is again threatening legal action against his mother, who he says didn't have the right to move the white tigers away from Zion because she doesn't own them.

A spokeswoman for Mr Busch told the Taranaki Daily News that Mr Busch's trust, the Busch Wildlife Foundation, actually owned the cats and he didn't want them to be moved.

She said Mr Busch, who is overseas, would take the tigers back to Zion as soon as he regained control of the park.

"It's not the fact they aren't being looked after – they certainly look happy – it's more the principle of the thing," spokeswoman Jill Ward said.

"Patricia has now set the precedent that she can do what she wants. But Craig maintains he owns the animals and is supposed to have some control over them, which he doesn't."

Mrs Ward said she did not blame Pouakai Zoo for taking the tigers.

"Our only issue is that we made it quite clear that [the move] was contrary to the owner's wish," she said.

"This is certainly something Craig is going to pursue."

In turn, Zion is now threatening to sue Mr Busch for making false statements about the park in public.

Zion's lawyer Steve Barter said Mr Busch's claims of ownership were untrue and the Busch Wildlife Trust had no legal claim to the animals.

The trust had never paid for the animals or their upkeep and the claims would be contested strongly by Zion, the legal owners of the tigers, Mr Barter said.

Pouakai Zoo did not wish to comment on the matter, saying their dealings were with Zion alone and they wanted to stay out of any legal issue.

Mr Busch and his mother are already involved in two court cases, one about Mr Busch's employment and another civil case. There is also a Department of Labour case about the death of the keeper.
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