Help Save the Sumatran Tiger

Dear Sumatran tiger supporters,

Since we last reported to you, we have continued to monitor Hannah’s pregnancy. According to our calculations, she should be due towards the end of February/beginning of March 2019.

In the meantime, we are ensuring that she receives the best nutrition and enrichment; and are weighing her once a week as well as taking photographs with a special thermo-camera to monitor her health.

Thermo imaging is a noninvasive diagnostic technique that allows the examiner to visualize and quantify changes in skin surface temperature. An infrared scanning device is used to convert infrared radiation emitted from the skin surface into electrical impulses that are visualized in color on a monitor. This visual image graphically maps the body temperature and is referred to as a thermogram. The spectrum of colors indicate an increase or decrease in the amount of infrared radiation being emitted from the body surface. Since there is a high degree of thermal symmetry in the normal body, subtle abnormal temperature asymmetry's can be easily identified.

This method’s major clinical value is in its high sensitivity to pathology in the vascular, muscular, neural and skeletal systems and as such can contribute to the pathogenesis and diagnosis made by the clinician. For example:

-       To define the extent of a lesion of which a diagnosis has previously been made;

-       To localize an abnormal area not previously identified, so further diagnostic tests can be performed;

-       To detect early lesions before they are clinically evident;

-       To monitor the healing process.

We hope that we will have more good news to report next time - we’ll keep you posted!

With warm regards,

Team Tiger at the Jerusalem Zoo

Dear Sumatran tiger supporters,

Exciting news – since we last reported to you, we can confirm that Hannah is once again pregnant.

As we explained before, this time the cubs will be separated from her shortly after birth after which we will hand rear (bottle feed) them at the Zoo.

Usually, zoos are reluctant to remove cubs from the mother prior to weaning, as it is always better for the animals if the mother can rear the cubs herself. Hand-reared cubs often fail to adapt successfully to living with other tigers. In this case, we have a dilemma – on the one hand, for this species to survive, continued breeding attempts are critical; on the other, it has happened several times already that Hannah’s healthy litters have not survived as a result of her failure to rear them. Accordingly, a zoological decision has been made – upon the recommendation of the European Endangered Species Program - to immediately remove any further offspring born to Hannah in the future.

We hope that we will have more good news to report next time - we’ll keep you posted!

With warm regards,

Team Tiger at the Jerusalem Zoo