Aspinall Foundation Tiger Celebrates 13th birthday

Zookeepers at the Aspinall Foundation’s Port Lympne & Howletts Park were delighted to celebrate one of their Amur Tigers 13th birthday in September 2011. Tugar lives at the park near Ashford in Kent with his mate Ingrid and their one year old cubs Rosa and Zaria. Tugar celebrated his birthday with some tiger friendly gifts from his keepers.

Head Keeper, Richard Barnes, said –

Tugar and his family are really popular with staff and visitors alike. The enrichment worked well as the presents provided something novel for the group. Tugar was not that interested in them unfortunately but the girls, Rosa and Zaria, loved running around with them and tearing them apart.

The Amur tiger is one of the largest members of the cat family, with a male weighing up to 300Kg and almost 3m in length! These tigers are critically endangered with as few as 500 left in the wild due to hunting from humans man and the encroachment on their natural habitat.

Let’s hope Tugar has plenty more birthdays to come, as it looks like he had a great time with that present!