MAYOR HANNEMANN JOINS CHILDREN TO SEE FIRST TIGER CUB PHOTOS

Mayor Mufi Hannemann today visited the Honolulu Zoo to unveil the first photographs of three baby tigers born there on Sept. 15.

“These tiger cubs are adorable and magnificent, and we’re thrilled to be able to share these wonderful images for the first time,” said Mayor Hannemann, who distributed the photos to visiting children and the news media.

The cubs are the first tigers to be born at the zoo in 27 years. Names will be chosen for them after they are identified as males or females, inoculated and weighed. If all goes well, the cubs will be released into the habitat for public viewing in a few weeks.

Chrissie, mother of the cubs, is a Sumatran Tiger born on June 1999 at the National Zoo in Washington DC. She was later donated to the Ft. Wayne Children’s Zoo in Indiana, and arrived in Honolulu on November 23, 2005. The cubs’ father is Berani, a Sumatran Tiger born on September 4, 1999 at the Phoenix Zoo. Berani also arrived in Honolulu on November 23, 2005 after a period at the Ft. Wayne Children’s Zoo.

Chrissie and Berani are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan for Sumatran Tigers, a structured breeding program designed to maximize genetic variability in the captive population. Chrissie and Berani previously produced a litter of two males and one female, at the Ft. Wayne Children’s Zoo on April 22, 2004.

The cubs may eventually be moved to other zoos as part of the Species Survival program. There are 41 male and 27 female registered Sumatran Tigers in captivity in 25 zoos within the US and Canada.

The last time tigers were born at the Honolulu Zoo was on April 27, 1981, to a pair of Bengal/Siberian hybrids, Tex and Marybell. They produced a litter of five cubs, two of which were stillborn. Another cub died shortly after, leaving one male and one female who were eventually sent to other zoos.

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Media contact: Department of Enterprise Services Director Sidney Quintal, 527-5415