Chester Zoo: Breeding hope as rare tiger arrives

A critically endangered Sumatran tiger has arrived at Chester Zoo as part of a special breeding programme.

Named Dash, the big cat was brought to the zoo from Fota Wildlife Park in Ireland.

Conservationists hope the three-year-old male will "hit it off" with resident female Kasarna, who was born at Chester in 2015.

The zoo's director of animals Mike Jordan said: "We're hopeful they will one day go on to have cubs."

He continued: "Dash is a handsome, confident young tiger and he's quickly settled into his new surroundings.

"Sumatran tigers are exceptionally rare and, sadly, their wild population continues to feel enormous pressure from mass-scale habitat loss and poaching.

"Their prospect of survival is hanging by a thread and the endangered species breeding programme, run by Europe's leading conservation zoos, is a vitally important part of the international effort to ensure these magnificent animals are here for generations to come."

The Sumatran tiger is listed as critically endangered by the Internal Union for the Conservation of Nature with just 400 estimated to remain in the wild

Notable for its darker colouring, it is one of the world's smallest tigers and is the only surviving tiger population in Indonesia's Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are already extinct.

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