5/05/10

Four Sumatran Tiger cubs were vaccinated this morning to protect them against cat flu and feline enteritis.

Zoo Vet Dr. Meg Curnick also gave the cubs a quick checkup, which included listening to their hearts, weighing them, and scanning their micro-chip IDs to ensure that they are functioning.

The cubs are the offspring of mother Binjai and father Ramalon.  The litter includes two females and two males.

The females are named ‘'Rani', meaning ‘princess or queen', and ‘Indrah', meaning ‘beautiful place'.

The males are named ‘Hutan' (forest) and ‘Aceh' (a Sumatran place name).

The Zoo expects that Binjai and her cubs will be ready to explore the tiger exhibit within the next week or two.

For now, the cubs and Binjai are still spending their time in the area adjacent to the exhibit. When Binjai is ready to take her cubs out into the exhibit, the Zoo website will be updated with the news of their public debut. 

Sumatran Tigers are the most endangered of the surviving tiger subspecies.

There are probably only about 300 surviving in their native rainforest. 

The continuing loss of rainforest due to rapid expansion of palm oil plantations is a major cause of the tiger population decline.

Melbourne Zoo is calling for community support to reduce the use of unsustainably-produced palm oil in Australian consumer goods, which includes both manufactured foods and other products, such as soaps.

The online petition advocating for change in food labelling legislation so that consumers will be able to identify products using palm oil is at: www.zoo.org.au/palmoil

In addition to the palm oil advocacy campaign and participating in the international endangered species breeding program, Melbourne Zoo also supports Sumatran Tiger conservation as a major partner of a habitat protection project in Aceh. 

Working in partnership with local authorities and Fauna and Flora International (FFI), the Zoo is helping to fund protection of the Gunung Leusur National Park, where tigers, orang-utans, and elephants still survive.   Rangers mounted on elephants patrol the forest to prevent poaching and illegal logging and settlement. 

Zoos Victoria staff have also provided training to project staff, both in Sumatra and at Melbourne Zoo.  Sales of Melbourne Zoo elephants' paintings go directly to help their wild cousins via this project.

If you would like to Adopt a Tiger or donate to Zoos Victoria or please call the Zoos Victoria Foundation on 03 9285 9308, email zvfoundation@zoo.org.au, or click here for more information http://www.zoo.org.au/ZVF/Adopt_an_Animal