Woburn Safari Park’s critically endangered Amur tiger cubs and African lions have been having a ball playing with giant cat toys, wool andcardboard boxes that are not too dissimilar to those enjoyed by domestic house cats.
As today is International Cat Day (August 8) the keepers treated the big cats at the Bedfordshire Park to some purr-fect enrichment. They had great fun creating some special fish and mouse-shaped cat toys, made from natural hessian sacks stuffed with Bactrian camel wool and conifer leaves to create tantalising scents, a little like catnip.
Keepers also made a large rope ball and offered the cats a giant cardboard box to hide in.
The Park’s tiger cubs, Mishka and Milashki, have also been showing off their hunting skills and competing with a game of tug-o-war, enjoying a cooling dip in the Park’s water pools and spending some quality time with mum as they brush up on their stalking and pouncing skills.
As the first Amur tigers to be born at the Park in 23 years, these female cubs are now juveniles and at 10 months old weigh around 70-80kgs each.
“We are always thinking of new ways to provide our big cats with the enrichment that they need, which is why with International Cat Day we decided that it would be nice to introduce the tigers and lions to some of the toys similar to those enjoyed by domestic house cats," said Tara Humphrey, Animal Keeper at Woburn Safari Park.
"Stalking and playing with the props really helps to stimulate their natural hunting instincts and the giant cardboard box we found was ideal for hiding in and tearing apart!”
Woburn Safari Park is home to a pride of 7 African lions and 5 Amur tigers that live in spacious reserves in the Kingdom of the Carnivores section of the Road Safari.
Amur tigers (also referred to as Siberian tigers) are critically endangered and numbers are as low as 520 in the wild. Major decreases in tiger populations over recent years are due to poaching for body parts and loss of habitat, making the international captive breeding programme vital to protecting their future.
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