Dudley Zoological Gardens Tiger's at Dudley Zoo

I think Filon was born in 1995 at Warsaw Zoo. An account of a breeding attempt between him and Raika at London was given in 2001 describing Filon as a 'six-year old male who had fathered cubs at Dudley Zoo with Raikas older sister'.

Either this attempt resulted in nothing, or Raika miscarried (which I believe has happened on at least one occassion), or she gave birth and the cubs died.

Hari, the only tiger cub successfully raised by ZSL London in recent decades, had some of his toes bitten off by his mother and had to be hand-reared. He was born about 1996 I think and was sired by a male called Martin (possibly on loan from Thrigby), and I've no idea who the mother was. I don't know Raika's age but she is younger than her sister Sarah at Dudley and Sarah is 14. So she would have had to have barely been a year old to be the mother of Hari, which is improbable.

Am I right in thinking that Hari is now living in Austraila? I know a male of the same name sired a litter at Perth Zoo in 2008. He was on loan from a collection in Cairns. Sarah and Rakia must be litter mates as Rakia was born in 1995 at Tierpark Berlin according to the infomation sign at London Zoo which would make her 14 as well. Thanks for your help :)
 
Sarah is described as Raikas older sister in some articles, but this could mean nothing and they could indeed be litter mates.

Hari is 13 now I think, and he is indeed the same animal that is now breeding in Australia. As other threads will tell you on here, he was at Twycross and South Lakes before being exported to Australia. Despite the rocky start, he has turned out to be sufficiently behaviourally functional to be able to mix and mate successfully with other tigers. There is something to be said for London raising him alongside a Japanese Akita maybe. I have been very critical of ZSLs record with this species, but they obviously did a good job hand-rearing this animal for him to go on and become a proven breeder.

If Raika is as old as Sarah, I wonder if she will live to see the new tiger enclosure at London when it is completed. I hope she will get to have a period of retirement in a more spacious exhibit. Their first successful parent-rearing of a litter of Sumatran tigers may not be that far off, although Raika is almost certain not to breed now.
 
I have read on another thread that Hari had the end of his tail bitten off, although I don't know if he lost some toes aswell. I am interested by the comment that Dudley's tiger enclosure is very small because at the time of the Sarah - Raika swap fiasco, the press focussed on the size of London's enclosure as the problem. Hopefully Raika will still be around to see the new enclosure.

I am just old enough to remember the old lion house at London and remember how fantastic the new lion terraces seemed when they opened. They made a lot more 'sense' to visitors then with six or seven big cat enclosures and a feeling that you would spot something new and exciting around the next corner. Whilst I, of course, believe it is better for the animals to have joined enclosures and reduced the number of species, the terraces don't really work so well now, for me, with a lot of wall to see and not so many animals, in what should be an exciting part of the zoo.

I wonder how long it will be before we get an idea of London's new designs. From a personal point of view, I hope they retain three cat species, even if they move some to a different area. There are still some fairly large open spaces in parts of the zoo that could be used for big cats, so developments could be interesting at a time when the zoo seems to be holding good public support.
 
In my view Dudley's tiger pit is not small.

I have read on another thread that Hari had the end of his tail bitten off, although I don't know if he lost some toes aswell. I am interested by the comment that Dudley's tiger enclosure is very small because at the time of the Sarah - Raika swap fiasco, the press focussed on the size of London's enclosure as the problem. Hopefully Raika will still be around to see the new enclosure.

I am just old enough to remember the old lion house at London and remember how fantastic the new lion terraces seemed when they opened. They made a lot more 'sense' to visitors then with six or seven big cat enclosures and a feeling that you would spot something new and exciting around the next corner. Whilst I, of course, believe it is better for the animals to have joined enclosures and reduced the number of species, the terraces don't really work so well now, for me, with a lot of wall to see and not so many animals, in what should be an exciting part of the zoo.

I wonder how long it will be before we get an idea of London's new designs. From a personal point of view, I hope they retain three cat species, even if they move some to a different area. There are still some fairly large open spaces in parts of the zoo that could be used for big cats, so developments could be interesting at a time when the zoo seems to be holding good public support.
 
For anyone who's interested I have now got details for all 8 cubs born at Dudley Zoo to Sarah and Filon.

Litter 1: April 2000
Rokan (m) Went to a zoo in Spain
Dumai (m) Went to a German zoo

Litter 2: September 2002
Banda (f) Moved to Paignton Zoo Devon
Jambi (m) Went to Tierpark Berlin
Padang (m) Now at South Lakes WAP Cumbria

Litter 3: May 2005
Kepala (m) Went to Chester Zoo before moving to Dublin Zoo in feb 2009.
Pendekar (m) Went to Lisbon Zoo Portugal
Indah (f) Now at Howletts WAP in Kent
 
I have made a family tree for all Sarah,Filon and their cubs. If you want to see it then please PM me your E-mail address and I will send it to you. :)
 
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