Moncton’s Magnetic Hill Zoo is getting ready to reveal the new home of its three big cats.
The new exhibit does not open to the public until Saturday, but the exotic pets are already getting settled into their new digs.
Alik, a two-year-old tiger, shares his space with a female roommate named Anya. Next door, is their neighbor Katoushaka, an 11-year-old Amur leopard. She has a separate, but attached enclosure.
“A lot of neat features to this exhibit, it is quite large, it's very green, a lot of shade. It's a very nice exhibit,” says Bruce Dougan, Magnetic Hill Zoo director.
Dougan says Amur leopards like Katoushka are rare, both in the wild and captivity.
“There are only approximately 33 Amur leopards left in the wild and 87 in captivity in North America and we are very fortunate to have Katoushka here at the Magnetic Hill Zoo.
Carolyn Longaphie works with the local company that developed the concept for the exhibit. She says, beyond a lot of research into the animals and what they need, the ultimate goal was two-fold.
“We do our best to make sure that the animals have everything that they need, but we also want to make it a very educational and fun experience for the visitors who come to see these animals,” says Longaphie. “We want them to leave the zoo feeling like they have learned something about these beautiful cats.”
The exhibit is dedicated to Tomar, an Amur tiger who called the zoo home from 1989 – 2007, when he died of kidney failure. His time at the zoo left a big impression on staff and visitors, so in his honor there is a viewing area set up with a timeline of the tiger’s life.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
