Awesome efforts for big cats. Their purr, roar, speed, stealth and beauty are just some of the many attributes we love about the world’s big cats.
Their purr, roar, speed, stealth and beauty are just some of the many attributes we love about the world’s big cats.
Auckland Zoo is home to the Sumatran tiger, Africa’s cheetah and the African lion.
To the zoo’s carnivore team leader, Lauren Booth, who has worked with these stunning felines for over a decade, they remain as alluring as ever, and her desire to contribute to helping conserve them, has never been stronger.
“As zookeepers, we’re in this amazingly privileged position of being able to get to know and build really strong positive relationships with our animals. We then get to share them with our visitors, and give people some insight into their wonderful quirks and personalities,” says Lauren.
“For me, enabling visitors to connect with our animals is vital - whether that’s coming face to face with a tiger while standing at our viewing window, being at a public encounter, or doing a behind-the-scenes tour.
“When people are then thinking about conserving these species in the wild, we want them to have their own personal connection and memory of an individual animal developing and appreciation of its own intrinsic value. It’s not just a nameless, faceless tiger that could be caught in a tiger snare in Sumatra, it could be a cat like our female Molek - a very smart, vocal tiger who can’t be rushed and is very clear about what she wants and when she wants it!”
While the zoo’s animals provide those powerful connections and are important ambassadors for their wild counterparts, one of the zoo’s key roles is directly helping wildlife in the wild - both practically and financially.
In the last year alone, Auckland Zoo has distributed over $324,000 to 26 different conservation projects in New Zealand and overseas - including helping fund Tiger Protection & Conservation Units in west Sumatra’s Kerenci Seblat National Park, and helping protect wild cheetah through support to Cheetah Outreach.
“Our friends at 21st Century Tiger, who work in partnership with park authorities, tell us that in a recent five-week period alone, 25 active tiger snares were detected and destroyed by TPCUs,” says Lauren.
“These units are involved in forest patrolling, wildlife crime investigations, species and forest law enforcement and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts. They’re doing an amazing job helping to protect Sumatra’s single most important tiger population. It’s really heartening.”
In coming to the zoo, through your entry, you, the visitors will directly contribute to the support the zoo gives to helping wildlife in the wild, so thank you.
This includes supporting Cape Town-based Cheetah Outreach, which runs the highly successful Anatolian Livestock Guard Dog Project where Anatolian shepherd dogs help protect farmers’ livestock, in turn preventing cheetah from being trapped, poisoned or shot.
Says Lauren: “Our own cheetah boys Anubis and Osiris were reared at Cheetah Outreach and came to Auckland Zoo in 2006 as part of Cheetah Outreach’s Ambassador programme. This is a project we’ve proudly supported for many years, and when it comes to cheetah, it really is a case of dogs saving cats!”
New ‘Big Cats’ Experience
Auckland Zoo’s new ‘Big Cats Experience’ is a unique opportunity for cat lovers to get up close to all three of their big cats.
The approximately four-hour experience (8am-11.45am), on offer on the first Monday of each month, starts with an early morning walk through the zoo grounds with the cheetahs and their keepers. It’s followed by a visit to meet the female lions behind-the-scenes, and then on to the home of the stunning Sumatran tigers - for yet another unforgettable up-close experience! For full details, phone 360 4700 or visit.
www.aucklandzoo.co.nz
Happy Birthday Anjalee!
Elephant Anjalee turned nine-years-old on Sunday 23 August and Auckland Zoo invited everyone to come in and celebrate throughout the weekend of 22-23 August.
The playful pachyderm, who arrived at her new home in late June, has settled in incredibly quickly and is now near-inseparable from her new best friend, Burma.
“It’s so heartening to see just how well Anjalee is doing and the amazing relationship already developing between her and Burma,” says elephant team leader, Andrew Coers. “That weekend was a great opportunity for us all to celebrate both Anjalee and Burma, who might just get a few extra food treats!”