On July 10, at the Philadelphia Zoo, a female Amur tiger gave birth to a litter of 5 cubs. Everyone wasn't celebrating though. Two of the cubs were stillborn, a third died in an accident and the fourth died from a medical complication. That left only one female. Zoya.
In spite of being a tiny miracle, Zoya was rejected by her mother, 10-year-old Koosaka. This behavior is somewhat typical of first-time tiger moms.
That's when the Philadelphia Zoo's animal care team stepped in to raise the cub. With only 500 Amur tigers left in the wild, zookeepers weren't about to allow this tiger cub to die like her siblings.
They bottle fed her and kept watch of her around the clock. But with as much care as they provided her something was still missing.
Zoo staff knew she needed siblings to thrive.
"With this single cub, we knew that the best scenario for her was to find an opportunity for her to grow up with other tigers," said Dr. Andy Baker, COO of the Philadelphia Zoo.
See what they did on the next page to help this cub.
Thanks to a stroke of good luck, a Sumatran tiger at the Oklahoma City Zoo had given birth to a pride of 3 male cubs just one day before Koosaka's delivery. That's when the Philadelphia Zoo decided to send Zoya to Oklahoma City.
Workers waited until the Sumatran mom, Lola, left her three cubs to feed and they rolled the newcomer in with the litter, covering her with their scent.
The hope was that Lola would adopt the little cub.
This ploy had only been successful one time before with tigers, that were of the same species.
"Cross-fostering in tigers is unusual, but with less than 500 Amur tigers in the wild, every cub is important for the species' survival," said Dr. Rebecca Snyder, curator of conservation and science with the Oklahoma City Zoo.
While they are different species, Sumatran and Amur tigers look the same as cubs.
"Everybody just had their breath held," said OKC Zoo curator Eddie Witte.
So far so good.
Lola nursed Zoya along with her other cubs and they appear to be one big happy family.
"We are very happy that Zoya has integrated well with her new adoptive family," said Donna Evernham, curator of carnivores and ungulates, Philadelphia Zoo. "She has made an incredible journey in her first two weeks of life and our Philadelphia Zoo team is thrilled to partner with the Oklahoma City Zoo to ensure Zoya's well-being. With fewer than 500 Amur tigers left in the wild Zoya's birth is significant to the entire population."
It will be a few weeks before they're ready to be seen by the public, but it looks like we have a happy ending to this story.
Zoya seemed to be the perfect name for this little cub- it means "Life".
Sources: Philadelphia Magazine / KFOR / People