Zoo welcomes critically endangered tiger

A zoo said it hoped its newest tiger arrival would help protect an endangered species from extinction.

Bulan, a male Malayan tiger, has been moved to Hamerton Zoo Park, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, from a zoo in the Czech Republic.

Zookeeper Charlotte Vaughan described the species as "critically endangered".

"It's a massive, massive milestone for us," she said.

Fewer than 150 Malayan tigers remain in the wild, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Vaughan said Bulan was very curious and quite nosy and that he was keen to take snacks from his keepers within a few hours of arriving.

He has already been introduced to the zoo's female Malayan tiger Sahaja through a fence.

"Sahaja is still a bit wary of him… but it's been really positive so far," said Vaughan.

She said the zoo believed the pair were the only two Malayan tigers of breeding age in Europe.

The zoo said any decisions about the big cats living together and any breeding programmes would be guided by the tigers' welfare.

The team have one other tiger in their collection, which is a white Bengal.

The attraction was previously home to a male Malayan tiger called Cicip which mauled a zookeeper to death in 2017.

An inquest found Rosa King's death was accidental after she failed to notice Cicip's enclosure was not secure.

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