Amazing new enclosures for lions and tigers
Rekord paid a visit to the Pretoria Zoo and caught a glimpse of the new lion and tiger enclosures, and got a close-up view of the two tigers during their annual health checks.
The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG) in Pretoria has upgraded its lion and tiger enclosures, creating a wonderful new home for its most impressive carnivores.
The new enclosures, which feature state-of-the-art cameras and security systems, will not only ensure a safer, more comfortable enclosure for the big cats, but a more pleasant viewing experience for zoo visitors as well.
As the big cats often like to sleep at higher-up spots in their enclosure during the day, the new cameras will feed a grid of images, taken from all over the enclosure, to a screen at the bottom, where people can still have sight of the cats.
The revamped enclosures will also feature new feeding areas, as well as solar panels to power the cameras and electric fences, as well as a back-up power supply, which would be enough to last up to three days, should the power fail.
According to Craig Allenby of the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, security was paramount. “The facilities, or night quarters as they are known to zoo staff, now sport safer mechanisms for our staff’s use when working with and managing our three tigers and six lions. One of the main upgraded features is the door-pulley system; it is colour-coded to draw the staff’s attention to the level of threat that could possibly be experienced when opening a certain door. The codes are red, blue and yellow. The interconnecting doors can be opened separately to allow the movement of animals from one room to the next without harm.”
Allenby added that, “feeding containers are now also connected directly to the doors to make feeding easier for staff and less inconvenient for the animals. The floors have also been made easier to clean. The tiger and lion enclosures both feature new baths to give the animals some watery respite from the sun and to elicit their natural wading tendencies in the case of the tigers.”
During a tour of the new facility, Rekord was also invited along to the veterinary centre to experience a day in the life of the Zoological Gardens’ incredible veterinarians as they did medical examinations on two of their tigers, a six-year-old male white Bengal tiger, Winston, and a 15-year-old female Bengal tiger, Leia.
Dr Angela Brüns, clinical veterinarian at the Zoo said that the examinations were also the perfect opportunity to harvest sperm cells from Winston, and to do an ultrasound on Leia, as they suspected that she might be pregnant.
The examinations took a large team of vets, assistants and technicians several hours to perform the routines. From drawing blood and measuring heart rates, to dental check-ups and slightly more invasive examinations like a prostate check. The examinations were part of a yearly health check, and vital to the good health of the animals.
“Although we did see the two tigers mating, the female is unfortunately not pregnant. For now we’ll just monitor the two and see if they mate again, and hopefully confirm a pregnancy a bit later in the year,” said Brüns.
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