Hand Raised Tiger Cubs at Howletts Animal Park

Two new little faces can now be seen at the Howletts Wild Animal Park! After 5 months of helping to rear them after their mother ignored them, the Aspinall Foundation can now reveal these two beautiful tiger cubs who really are a bundle of fun.

Now five month old, the cubs are getting big and strong thanks to the care of the Aspinall Foundation keepers constant attention. Named Kazimir and Arina, Ben Warren has been instrumental in ensuring they have been well looked and they are now responding well to having human ‘parents’.

Ben said –

These cute cubs had a hard start in life, as their mum left them alone.  We made the decision to hand raise them so that they would get the nutrition and care that they needed.  This involved hand feeding them both at two hourly intervals, constant supervision and regular medical checks by the onsite vet team at the wild animal park. It’s great to see them doing well – they’ve both got huge characters.

The beautiful brother and sister are now running around and having a greet time in the outside area. This comes after the female Arina began her life walking with a limb that was put down to a lack of bone mass. Fortunately, Arina was operated on and the surgery was able to correct the limp, though only ti her bones to develop further before we can look at pinning the leg to fully correct it.

These amazing tigers are endangered in the wild, so it’s very important that these two were nurtured by humans after the tough start to their lives. With only an estimated 400 left in the wild, the work of the Aspinall Foundation is even more important than ever.

Animal Director, Neil Spooner, said –

It’s a sad fact that Amur tigers are endangered in the wild.  That’s why all births are so important – we need to ensure that these beautiful big cats continue to survive for generations to come. It’s great to see how far Kazimir and Arina have come – they are really enjoying their new surroundings.

Here’s hoping these beautiful tigers continue to move forward and continue to draw more people to the zoo. I know I’d like to see a couple of tiger cubs having a bit of rough and tumble!