ZSL London Zoo Sumatran tiger Melati killed by Asim

oflory

oflory

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10+ year member
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Terrible news.

Today our beloved Sumatran tigress Melati died while being introduced to new male Asim for the first time.

Everyone at ZSL London Zoo is heartbroken by this turn of events. Tiger Territory will remain closed while our team focus on caring for Asim:https://goo.gl/CYtfwM
 
Devastating :( she was a beautiful tigress
 
oflory said:
Terrible news.

Today our beloved Sumatran tigress Melati died while being introduced to new male Asim for the first time.

Everyone at ZSL London Zoo is heartbroken by this turn of events. Tiger Territory will remain closed while our team focus on caring for Asim:https://goo.gl/CYtfwM
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What a tragic loss. I saw Melati once at London, and she was a stunning tigress. I’ve visited a lot of her family across the Australian and New Zealand zoos as well.

Is it normal in the UK zoos to introduce tigers this quick (just over a week since the male arrived)? In Australasia, zoos take months or even years introducing Sumatran tigers.
 
How unbelievably sad.

I'm really surprised by the honesty in this report, unless it was witnessed by the public and they had to release the statement this way.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Is it normal in the UK zoos to introduce tigers this quick (just over a week since the male arrived)? In Australasia, zoos take months or even years introducing Sumatran tigers.
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I wondered this myself. Surely the new male would be still familiarising himself with his new surroundings? It’s seems an awfully quick turnaround.

Now amongst the main headlines on Sky and the BBC.
 
Zooreviewsuk said:
How unbelievably sad.

I'm really surprised by the honesty in this report, unless it was witnessed by the public and they had to release the statement this way.
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It is terrible news. But I am sure that ZSL were absolutely right to announce it immediately. Any delay would gain nothing and just cause accusations of a cover-up. Honesty is not just the best policy, it is the only sensible one too.
 
gentle lemur said:
It is terrible news. But I am sure that ZSL were absolutely right to announce it immediately. Any delay would gain nothing and just cause accusations of a cover-up. Honesty is not just the best policy, it is the only sensible one too.
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I imagine London zoo will find a another tiger quicker than most zoos as they coordinate the European breeding program
 
robert everett said:
I imagine London zoo will find a another tiger quicker than most zoos as they coordinate the European breeding program
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Totally agree with the honesty part - better to let people know about the complexities of breeding animals / running a zoo, rather than trying to cover up. It would have got out somehow so best that the zoo had full control of the story.
 
LucasRyan said:
But would they risk the introduction to another female after this, considering he failed to take to another female in Heidelberg https://www.zoochat.com/community/threads/sumatran-tigers-in-europe.152676/page-12#post-890346 or just retire him off somewhere?
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I think you may be right, London are now left with a problem that may not be resolved very easily or quickly. They were probably hoping to have cubs on show for the summer, now they will potentially have just a single male in one of their flagship exhibits!
I'm not sure they would want to risk him with another female, one tragedy is unfortunate, but a second one would get terrible publicity for a high profile zoo like London. I think he will be moved on as soon as a new pair become available and they can find somewhere to take him. How long that will be though is anyone's guess.
 
pipaluk said:
I'm not sure they would want to risk him with another female, one tragedy is unfortunate, but a second one would get terrible publicity for a high profile zoo like London.
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That depends on how highly the coordinator values his genes. If his bloodline isn't represented much, they will certainly try that again. You can always give him sedatives or something.
 
LucasRyan said:
But would they risk the introduction to another female after this, considering he failed to take to another female in Heidelberg https://www.zoochat.com/community/threads/sumatran-tigers-in-europe.152676/page-12#post-890346 or just retire him off somewhere?
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I was surprised to hear the new male had a history of aggression towards a female; though I imagine this was put down to a clash of personality i.e. not every pair is going to get on.

At the Wellington Zoo in 1990, their male Sumatran tiger killed his mate (I believe this is to date the only such occurrence in an Australasian Zoo), and it was put down to them being introduced too quickly (they were introduced over 6-12 months). A replacement female arrived a year later and was successfully introduced to the male over 18 months, and they went on to produce two litters of cubs.

Given Asim has now been unsuccessful with two females (and killed one), I believe they would be wise not to attempt introductions with a third female.
 
HOMIN96 said:
That depends on how highly the coordinator values his genes. If his bloodline isn't represented much, they will certainly try that again. You can always give him sedatives or something.
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If they really need his genes, AI (through sedation) would be an option. It has been done with Temminck’s golden cat and Fishing cat before for similar reasons.

However, would they want his genes (including traits of aggression) passed on to a new generation of cubs? I don’t know his family history, but surely there is a brother or nephew somewhere that is of equal (or almost equal) genetic value that may not have inherited these aggressive traits.
 
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