By Staff Reports
(Honolulu)– WAIKĪKĪ – As we celebrate the Year of the Tiger, the Honolulu Zoo is happy to announce the arrival of a new Sumatran tiger from the Baton Rouge Zoo. The male tiger, who was transported to the Honolulu Zoo on Thursday evening, is named Seattle and was born on June 3, 2007.
Seattle is 15 years old and weighs approximately 220 pounds. The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List has the Sumatran tiger listed as critically endangered, with no more than 400 individuals believed to be remaining in its total population.
“With the help of the Honolulu Police Department, who provided an escort team, we are pleased that Seattle, our new Sumatran tiger, arrived safely overnight at the Honolulu Zoo,” said Honolulu Zoo Director Linda Santos. “We were very fortunate that the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP) identified a genetically suitable pair of tigers for the Honolulu Zoo to breed, and we’re beyond thrilled about the arrival of a male tiger. We are currently working with another zoo to provide us with his mate.”
The Sumatran tiger is one of the smallest species of tiger in the world and is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers have gone extinct. They are noted for their heavy black stripes on their orange coat and are generally shy and tend to avoid people in the wild. Poaching is one of their main threats to survival, and the expansion of oil palm and acacia plantations have taken over their much of their natural habitat.
The Honolulu Zoo’s Aloha ‘Aina Conservation Fund has provided longtime support for conservation efforts of Sumatran tigers in the wild through the AZA SSP’s Tiger Conservation Campaign.
Seattle will be housed in the tiger exhibit near the play apparatus at the Honolulu Zoo. The last male tiger at the Honolulu Zoo, Berani, passed away in 2017 and had three cubs with Chrissy, the Honolulu Zoo’s resident female tiger, who will turn 23 years old on June 24, 2022.