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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA First Date for Two Rare Tigers Ends in Death
LONDON The courtship went on for 10 whole days. They were kept apart, but tantalizingly close so that each could see, hear and smell the other.
When the matchmakers believed that the time and the place were right Friday at London Zoo the rare Sumatran tiger called Asim and a female named Melati were put in the same enclosure together.
He promptly killed her moments after they were introduced for the first time.
The animals handlers scrambled in vain to intervene, the zoo said, using loud noises, flares and alarms to try and distract the pair, but Asim had already overpowered Melati.
Keepers eventually were able to shepherd Asim into a separate paddock so that they could safely get to Melati, the zoo said. Vets then confirmed that she had died.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)RIP Melati ... she was so freaking beautiful
BAD ASIM! BAD KITTY!!!
This really breaks my heart ... how could these experts misjudge the situation so badly?
underpants
(182,879 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,339 posts)Rorey
(8,445 posts)Poor Melati. Next time maybe artificial insemination might work better.
No Vested Interest
(5,167 posts)What is the lesson learned here?
Renew Deal
(81,871 posts)For the most dramatic season yet
ecstatic
(32,731 posts)Melati had successfully mated with the zoo's previous male tiger, Jae Jae. They shipped him off to France then immediately tried to pair her with a new mate. Maybe it doesn't work like that in the tiger world, just like it wouldn't work like that with most humans. For all Melati knew, this new tiger was responsible for Jae Jae's disappearance.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-47170454
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)happybird
(4,623 posts)I have to wonder about the brevity of the 'getting to know each other' stage. Ten days sounds really, really fast.
When we take in a new rescue, that orientation period goes on for several weeks, sometimes even months separate room for the new cat, sniffing and tapping paws under the door with the resident cats, swapping beds and toys around, shutting the herd in a bedroom and letting the new cat explore the house on it's own, putting triple stacked baby gates in the isolation room doorway so everyone can go nose to nose. It's a freakin' process. And this is just with little 10 lb. cats.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)before, so neither triggered some "defective--don't allow to reproduce" response. Sometimes there just is no warning when things go bad.
Our son at kindergarten age came dreadfully close to being killed by a neighbor's large, well behaved dog -- slipped past our neighbor at the front door and was running full bore to take down prey when he responded to his owner's command to stop. I was close by but could not have gotten there in time to save our small son. Perhaps jumping around and waving the papers he was bringing home from school triggered it; we didn't know. I still think of it in the middle of the night.
Karadeniz
(22,572 posts)harumph
(1,915 posts)Just to smooth out the rough edges...