Posted on 02/08/2019 11:31:38 AM PST by dennisw
London Zoo say Melati was mauled to death by the male on their first encounter Asim, the male, had been kept in an adjoining enclosure prior to their meeting
The younger male killed Melati in an interaction which 'quickly escalated'
London Zoo's beloved female tiger Melati has been brutally mauled to death by her potential new mate while the two beasts were being introduced.
The zoo says 10-year-old Melati died Friday during her first encounter with Asim, a seven-year-old male who was shipped in from Denmark last month.
The two tigers had been kept in adjoining enclosures for 10 days so they could get used to one another, but their first interaction 'quickly escalated into a more aggressive interaction.'
The zoo says keepers intervened with loud noises, flares and alarms but were too late to save Melati.
It says staff are 'devastated by the loss of Melati, and we are heartbroken by this turn of events.'
Zoologists had hoped the two tigers would breed as part of a Europe-wide tiger conservation program for the endangered Sumatran subspecies.
The zoo's head tiger keeper Kathryn Sanders said last month: 'Asim arrived yesterday after catching the ferry from France and immediately made himself at home in his new, cosy den.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Not that often, no.
The big problem in captive situations (full disclosure, I’m a former keeper, and have one or two pet peeves), is that the so-called “Species Survival Plans” (SSPs) mandate moving around adult animals to new facilities to periodically ‘stir up the bloodlines’. Problem with that is that you’re breaking up bonded pairs, and expecting new ones to easily form from animals, who are strangers to each other. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always work, with the results you see here.
Rough sex ... gone bad.
In nature the animals are exposed to mating at an early age. The male would have gotten his ass kicked by dominate males for years. He would have “ learned” to behave by now.
Asim is Arkansasian for “Clinton.” ###
or Frank Underwood.
LOL,. Barry White music, bottle of wine, comfy sheets and pillows, whisper sweet nothings in each other’s ears.......
Perhaps this behavior could be a clue as to why they are endangered?
It’s not just that. In captivity, it’s also all about how they’re socialised from cubs. Again, as a former keeper, I can tell you that males that are hand-raised, and socialised with both their keepers and other cats from an early age almost NEVER do something like this. The SSP cats (like this one), are mother-raised, their keepers are completely hands-off, and the cats are regularly being moved to other facilities and expected to simply ‘get on with it’.
Sometimes it works, but far-too-often, it doesn’t.
I know nothing other than what i’ve Seen on National Geographic and my Dad’s kennel business. You don’t breed dogs like that. Lots of territorial issues going on.
I defer to our knowledge.
On a novice level, this seemed stupid.
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
They'll change the name of the tiger from "Asim" to "Brett."
Clearly not comparable
There are other threads on this site devoted to your concern, this particular one is about tigers.......
“Yeah, but who in their right mind is gonna volunteer to “collect” semen from a 600-pound aggressive tiger?”
They ‘tranquilize’ them...I use tranquilize in quotes as I know a retired Game Warden (this is Grizzly Bear country) who explained to me that the tranquilizer is, in fact, PCP.
Angel Dust, think Rodney King...
Animals senses get overwhelmed by the drug and they can’t function...real tranquilizers ofttimes put a large animal into such at slow metabolistic state that they stop breathing and die.
I’m with you — don’t think I’d like to ‘give a hand’ to a 600 pound tiger in that state...
Female cats do have it rough. On a GOOD “date” she is bitten and held by the back of her neck until raw, and assaulted with penile “barbs” meant to hold him in place.
Laughing, can’t stop.
“Now that tiger keeps following me around with this smile on his face.”
Yikes!
The age old story - guy rapes gal and kills her.
Sumatra Tiger Melati killed by a Tiger with Arabic name Asim. Like Indonesian maids in Saudi Arabia.
I agree ...should have kept them separated in side by side cages so them could smell each other for a few months. Get used to each other.
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