Four rare Amur tiger cubs born at Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire have had their first vaccinations. The young tigers, still only a few weeks old, were given their initial jabs as part of their health regimen, with a second set scheduled in a few weeks’ time. Once fully inoculated, the cubs are expected to start exploring the Safari Park by the end of the school summer holidays.
Lead Carnivore Keepers Caleb Hall and Eloise Kilbane coordinated the inoculations with the veterinary team. Despite the cubs’ tender age, the keepers wore gauntlets and gloves for protection. “Similar to our domestic cats at home, our tigers need vaccinating, and they had a thorough health check,” explained Caleb.
The second vaccination, due in three weeks, will prepare the cubs for their outdoor adventures. “They already love running around and exploring,” Eloise noted. “Mum Yana was really relaxed throughout the experience; although we had physically separated her, she could still see them, and she was quite chilled – probably because she has had experience of this before.”
Initially, the cubs will explore a smaller paddock to ensure they become familiar with the outdoors and to allow their vaccinations to take full effect before they join the drive-through Safari. “They are really strong already, which shows how well mum has been looking after them; three were calm while one was quite feisty,” said Caleb. “One of them started climbing, so they are going to have great fun when they see the trees in the paddock.”
Yana and dad Red previously had two cubs – Yuki and Rusty – in 2019. Rusty moved to Blackpool Zoo last year as part of the breeding programme. Longleat now boasts the largest collection of Amur tigers in the UK.
The species, currently listed as endangered, has seen fewer than 25 per cent of births across Europe in the past two years attributed to the Longleat cubs. It is estimated that only 450 Amur tigers remain in the wild.
