Tiger Cubs In Fota Wildlife Park, Cork
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Who are the hosts and what brings them to Fota Wildlife Park?
We're gonna go to Cork now and say hello to my old friend and colleague, Rory Cobb. Rory Derek, how are you? I'm very good. Now I believe that you went to Photo Wildlife Park recently. You took the train from Kent Station?
I did indeed. It's such a lovely journey. Um now the park has known been known for its cheetahs and bison, which have been at the forefront of its breeding programs, and these programs are run right across the world, with the park helping to restore populations of some species while protecting the survival of others. Now I arrived before the park was open and was met by marketing manager Rosheen Fitzgerald and she picked me up in one of those electric electric vehicles that they zoom around the park in, which was very exciting.
I know, I've been on now. I believe it's been an incredible year when it comes to conservation for the park.
Well yeah, I mean I I keep getting emails from Rochine telling me what's going on, and it's hard to believe that their success rate has been so high this year. Uh they've just announced the birth of only the second Indian rhinoceros ever born in Ireland. This summer also saw the birth of three Asian lion cubs, and Asian lions survive in only just one wild population in India. And the last count there was done in twenty twenty five and recorded 891 individuals in the wild. So those cub are crucial to the species conservation. But it was across the road from the Lions that I was destined. And she took me to meet John Leahy, the lead ranger on the project. And I was there to talk to him about the birth of two cubing to another critically endangered big cat, the Sumatran tiger.
Well we currently have two females here, so we have Jambi who is the mother of the Cubs, uh and then we have Padme and then we have Batak who is the father of the Cubs. So we're currently housing three tigers here at Fota. Uh if well when visitors have been here in the past, uh we had more tigers, but it is currently three. How long are they here? Uh so again it varies.
What new Sumatran tiger cubs have been born at Fota and who are their parents?
So Jambi's now here about three years I think it is. Uh Padme's only been here maybe just over a year. So she came Padme came from the UK, uh Jambi came from Germany and then Batak came from France and he's been here around just coming up, I think, ten years now. So he would be our longest resident um tiger in the park. So people would have normally seen Batak out of the three of them before. She's had two cubs.
Yes. Have you had any other Cubs here before?
We have, yeah. So we have had Dharma and Dash. So Dharma went off to Edinburgh Zoo and Dash went off to Chester Zoo. So I suppose one went to Scotland as well. But I suppose the the main point of these guys is the it's a safety net, I suppose, essentially, and that that's what zoos are. And um I know obviously and I'll I'll be frank in the sense that it would be fantastic if they were fine in the world and there was no poaching and there was no sort of encroachment. From from human activity, but unfortunately, that is a realistic thing that's happening in the world. So for that reason, we need the safety net, we need sort of this population here within captivity. If anything happens, I suppose you have two aspects of it.
You have one that then you can breed from captivity back out, so you could essentially release them to the wild. You wouldn't be able to release the guys we have here because they have been born into. Into captivity and they would be very much habituated with the with us as people. So it would work a different system, so you would you could breed in captivity but then they would have to go out to a holding facility within their country uh and then they would be bred there and then potentially their offspring could then be released, but it'd have to be managed in a different different stance. Sure yeah. Oh she's beautiful, isn't she? Oh she's fantastic. She as it goes jambi, we could. I won't say it too loud 'cause the others might hear, but Jambi's my favourite.
How does Fota use captive breeding as a safety net for endangered big cats?
We won't tell anybody. But um but no, Jamie really is. She she's so engaging, I suppose it would be, and safe from a training point of view.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who are the hosts and what brings them to Fota Wildlife Park?
0:00–1:51
2
What new Sumatran tiger cubs have been born at Fota and who are their parents?
1:51–3:37
3
How does Fota use captive breeding as a safety net for endangered big cats?
3:37–5:18
4
What training, enrichment and diet do the tiger cubs receive in the nursery?
5:18–6:51
5
When will the tiger cubs transition from nursing to solid food?
6:51–8:34
6
How does Fota integrate education and visitor experience into its conservation work?
8:34–10:25
7
What native Irish species conservation projects does Fota support?
10:25–12:41
8
How did Rory finally get a close look at the tiger cubs and what was his reaction?
12:41–13:55