Three
bundles of stripy, wild cat mischief are making their mark as Whipsnade Wild Animal
Park’s newest arrivals. The three-month-old Siberian tiger cubs, yet to be named,
are keeping their parents on their toes as they make their first playful explorations
of Tiger Falls, their three-and-a-half acre enclosure. This
is not the first set of cubs for parents Boris and Wanda though, with their first
success only two years ago when Kira and Kharlan were born, also as part of the
European Endangered Species programme. Kharlan can be seen with the cubs at Tiger
Falls and is relishing his new role as older brother. At
the moment the three delightful cubs are the size of a large domestic cat and
are blissfully unaware that there are less than 600 Siberian tigers left in the
wild and that over the last 50 years, three out of the remaining eight species
of tiger have become extinct. Captive breeding at collections like Whipsnade is
critical to the survival of these magnificent cats. |