Yuri the Amur Tiger

It was with some sadness that on 11 October 2010, Yuri was put painlessly to sleep. Yuri arrived at the Park, along with his long time mate Sasha, from Edinburgh Zoo on 25 September 2008. The arrival of the tigers was both a clear signal of our expanded species plan to include cold weather adapted animals from around the globe and not just Scottish species, and the real trigger for our greatly increased visitor numbers.

Yuri was born in Duisburg Zoo in Germany on 13 June 1993, and was sent to Edinburgh Zoo in July 1999 as recommended by the European Zoo Association’s Amur tiger breeding programme, which is coordinated from London Zoo. Yuri was introduced to Sasha later that year and mating was soon observed. They had two litters whilst at Edinburgh of three cubs each time. A few months after moving to the Highlands, mating was observed and on 11 May 2009 Yuri and Sasha again produced and reared a litter of three cubs. Although Yuri and Sasha did not always see eye to eye and their “arguments” could be heard across the Park, he was incredibly gentle with all his offspring, especially when they were very small and just starting to stumble out of the cubbing den.

As this last litter of cubs grew and became more boisterous, Yuri was observed to be keeping a lower profile, and more importantly was seen to be drinking more than normal. At 17 years old, Yuri is an old boy and as is usual in big cats of this age, we suspected that he may be developing arthritis and his kidneys were beginning to fail. If this was the case, the only outcome for him would be increasing levels of discomfort and inevitably death, and not a very pleasant one. Through testing his urine, we ascertained that his kidneys were failing and after lengthy discussions with our veterinary colleagues and the keepers who have been caring for him, we concluded that the only option open to us was to put him to sleep before the symptoms started to compromise his welfare. Simon Girling, the Zoological Society’s head of veterinary services says of Yuri’s condition, “Kidney failure is extremely common in ageing cats, both wild and domestic, as are age-related arthritic problems and sadly Yuri is showing all the classic signs. Animal welfare has to be our top priority and so this decision, although a difficult one, is the right one.” In addition, Jane Harley, the Park’s local veterinary consultant has a similar opinion, “In common with many geriatric pet cats, Yuri has kidney failure and painful arthritis. His keepers and I have been monitoring him closely and although this has been a difficult decision for everyone involved with him it has been made with his quality of life as priority”

In life he played his part in both increasing the number of his endangered species and raising the profile of the plight of Amur tigers in the wild. In death, the exhaustive post mortem examination and the distribution of key biological samples to different conservation research institutions will help expand our knowledge of this magnificent animal and may offer further clues that might aid in saving the species in the wild.

in reference to: Highland Wildlife Park, Kincraig, Kingussie, Inverness-shire, Scotland, UK (view on Google Sidewiki)