An animal rights charity has said the death of a tiger at Knowsley Safari was “entirely predictable”.
The death of Sinda, a rare female tiger, was announced earlier this week by Knowsley Safari after she suffered a fatal bite injury during a breeding attempt. A spokesperson for the park confirmed the 14-year-old Amur Tiger, who had been at the park since 2010, received the severe bite injury from male tiger Miron on Saturday, November 12.
In light of the incident, Freedom for Animals, a charity, argues “Zoos are incredibly unnatural environments for wild animals, and big cats are no exception."
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However, Knowsley Safari has insisted it followed the advice given by a membership organisation that sets the standard for progressive zoos and aquariums .
Dr Andrew Kelly, director of Freedom for Animals said: “The sad death of Sinda was entirely predictable given that zoos continue to breed animals in completely unnatural conditions in the UK and around the world.
“Freedom for Animals is calling for a radical re-think on keeping animals in captivity and believes that zoos should transition to becoming sanctuaries where captive animals can be assessed for release to the wild and if that’s not possible, spend the rest of their lives in an environment free from forced breeding and constantly being gawped at by the public.”
Tigers are still one of the most vulnerable and endangered species in the world, with less than 4,000 individuals left in the wild globally, according to the charity.
Sinda and Miron had mixed successfully on several previous occasions since Miron arrived at the park two years ago. Their introduction, part of a European breeding programme, was managed by the park’s animal team. The park said breeding attempts take into account each tiger's behaviour and follow "rigorous" procedures. Only once positive behaviour was displayed by the tigers were physical introductions made. The team also added due to the instant nature of the death a vet wouldn’t have been able to prevent Sinda from dying.
A spokesperson for Knowsley Safari told the ECHO : “We respect and understand that other organisations may have varying views on animal breeding programmes. Our Amur Tiger breeding programme is carefully planned and managed with advice from European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.”
The ECHO understands Miron, six, had not shown unusual levels of aggression towards female tigers at Knowsley Safari. But a question and answer section on the park's website added he had fatally injured a female tiger while at Copenhagen zoo in 2018. Knowsley Safari Park was aware of this, but "given the facilities and expertise of the time it was felt we could meet Miron's needs."
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