Birthday surprises for Highland Wildlife Park big cat
Dominika the Amur Tiger turns seven
The Highland Wildlife Park’s female Amur tiger, Dominika, has reached the grand old age of seven, and to help her celebrate her birthday, keepers have provided the magnificent big cat and her mate with an array of birthday treats.
Aside from keepers wrapping a number of boxes - filled with tasty treats - in colourful birthday wrapping paper, they have also created a meaty cake for the birthday girl.
Vickie Larkin, Head Carnivore Keeper at Highland Wildlife Park, said: "Whilst Dominika doesn’t know it’s her birthday, it does provide a fun opportunity for the keepers to get creative with the tigers enrichment and make something unusual and different for the tigers"
"Enrichments plays a very important role in all the animals lives, as it provides mental and physical stimulation and allows them to exhibit natural behaviours"
Dominika was born at the Park in 2009 and was later joined by her mate Marty who arrived in April 2012. In May 2013, Dominika gave birth to two cubs who were named Murray and Viktor. They have since moved onto other collections to join the over-arching breeding programme, where they will play an important role in boosting the captive population of this increasingly threatened species.
Amur tigers, the largest member of the cat family, are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, with approximately 350-450 individuals left in the wild. Over three quarters of tiger deaths in the wild are directly attributable to humans, mainly due to poaching that supports the traditional medicine trade, but increasingly disease from domestic dogs is negatively impacting the population.
As humans continue to encroach upon tiger habitat, increased competition for territory and food means that there is also an increased likelihood of tigers attacking livestock and people and this usually results in the tiger being killed.