Zoo says farewell to tiger Jack
BELFAST Zoo's much loved white tiger, Jack, has died aged 17.
Jack arrived in Bellevue in 1998 from Colchester Zoo, with Jill. They shared an enclosure for nine years until Jill died of kidney failure in 2007.
The zoo’s vet, Michael Griffith, had been monitoring Jack’s health over the past few weeks and he took the decision to put him to sleep.
“In tiger years, Jack lived a long life, but suffered a rapid deterioration in health over the past few weeks,” he said. “He became less active, suffered rapid weight loss, and developed a tumour on his throat which had significantly grown in size.”
Because he was a hybrid sub-species, Jack was not part of a breeding programme. But despite this, he remained very popular with visitors to the zoo who often knew him by name.
Julie Mansell, Curator, said: “Jack was a firm favourite with public and staff and will be sorely missed. Some of our visitors may remember Jack because of his fondness for swimming in his pool. This was one of his favourite pastimes”.
Jack’s death means the zoo currently has no tigers.
Zoo Manager, Mark Challis, said: “There is a long term commitment to bring tigers back to the zoo and we our assessing our options.”
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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