Delaware zoo gets new tiger

The Brandywine Zoo is once again home to a tiger after recieving three-year-old Zhanna from the St. Louis Zoo.  The last tiger to live at the zoo was 20-year-old Ashley, who died last year.

The Brandywine Zoo created Zhanna’s enclosure by combining two existing exhibits thanks to $75,000 in funding from the Delaware Zoological Society.  

“Our emphasis is to help educate people about tigers, the problem tigers face as an endangered species and the effort zoos and other organizations are making to conserve them and their wild habitats,” says J. Gregory Ellis, president of the Delaware Zoological Society.  Currently, there are fewer than 500 Siberian tigers living in the wild in far eastern Russia and northeast China.  Main threats to the tiger population include loss of habitat due to logging activities, human encroachment and poaching.

Zhanna is expected to be presented to the public after being held in quarantine for about two weeks.