CALGARY — Calgary Zoo officials were not able to save a Siberian tiger cub born early this week, but the director of animal care says that doesn’t mean the breeding program is a failure.
“We’re not in the business of churning out as many tigers as we possibly can,” Dr. Jake Veasey said at a news conference Friday. “We’re in the business of supporting a species survival program by producing genetically important tigers.
“I think there’s a misconception that we are only successful if we’re producing lots of cubs.”
The female cub died despite emergency care from senior staff. Things initially looked good when tigress Katja gave birth Monday, but keepers were forced to step in when she left the den and the tiger baby became dehydrated and lost body heat.
Veasey said everyone at the zoo is devastated.
“Everyone at the zoo is passionate about the welfare of our animals, so this is a blow, but we’re also realistic that these things happen. It’s not that this is in any way unusual. It doesn’t make it any less sad, but it’s a natural event.”
Veasey said the cub had become entirely dependent on human intervention and wasn’t strong enough to pull through. A post-mortem examination confirmed the cub’s organs failed. There was no evidence of any trauma, which suggests 10-year-old Katja had provided exceptional care for the first 36 hours of the cub’s life.
“I think we need to remind people that this animal did everything right,” he said. “Up until the point in her abandoning that cub, she probably did everything she would naturally do in the wild. There’s no evidence that anything abnormal has happened here.”
Siberian tigers are considered endangered and their population continues to decline. Census estimates say there are fewer than 400 adults left in the wild.
Last September, zoo officials were taken unawares when Katja gave birth to twins. Keepers had not known she was pregnant. A female Siberian tiger weighs about 135 kilograms, whereas a cub is about one kilogram at birth.
Staff believe the two females died of complications from severe head trauma, which the zoo attributed to the actions of an “inexperienced mother.”
This time the pregnancy did not come as a surprise. Animal care staff anticipated the birth after observing Katja mating with Baikal from New York’s Bronx Zoo.
The Calgary Zoo has experienced several animal deaths in recent years. A hippo died after a long, painful transfer from another zoo. More than 40 stingrays perished after someone messed up oxygen levels in their tank. A large spiral-horned wild goat got caught in a toy rope and strangled. A capybara, a giant central American rodent, was crushed to death when a worker closed a hydraulic door.
Last June, a report by the groups that accredit zoos across North America suggested the deaths weren’t just an unfortunate fluke. It said human error was behind more of the deaths than at other zoos and urged immediate steps be taken to make sure animals in Calgary remained safe.
Veasey said in this case there is no one to blame.
“People have to understand in a zoo of this size animals are going to die and that’s completely normal,” he said.
“We have to kind of step out of this assumption that if an animal dies at Calgary Zoo there’s something gone wrong. I shouldn’t have to reassure anyone. They should take it for granted there was no more that could have been done for this animal than was done.
He added he hopes people will be fair to the zoo about the tiger cub’s death.
“There seems to be a desire to find blame somewhere, whether it’s the staff at the zoo or the tiger itself. The fact of the matter is these things happen and there isn’t always someone to blame.”