Tigers – Fusion Nepal

At a zoo, a dicey attempt at tiger matchmaking went awry.

The ZSL London Zoo said Friday that a new male Sumatran tiger, Asim, killed the facility’s “beloved” female, Melati. Zookeepers allowed the two wary predators to physically interact for the first time, hoping they would eventually mate as part of a greater European breeding program.

But after Asim approached Melati, matters “quickly escalated into a more aggressive interaction,” the zoo said.

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://t.co/KAoW0rziPN pic.twitter.com/CHcVKKMdz4

— ZSL London Zoo (@zsllondonzoo) February 8, 2019 Read more…

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After killing and eating more than a dozen villagers in India over the last two years, an elusive tigress was shot dead by government-hired hunters on November 2.

Killing endangered wild tigers certainly isn’t ideal, as there are only some 2,150 to 3,150 adults left in the wild, globally. But, in the unusual case that a tiger begins hunting people, it’s necessary that the tiger be killed, or if possible, relocated.

The legendary cats’ greater existence, in a human-dominated world, depends on it.

“When you have a tiger that’s killed 13 people, that really undermines the conservation effort,” John Goodrich, a tiger biologist and chief scientist at the wild cat conservation group Panthera, said in an interview. Read more…

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