Symbio Wildlife Park’s two critically endangered Sumatran Tigers Cinta and Jalur are heading to a new home in Tasmania on June 6 to play a vital role in broadening the awareness of the plight of their species.
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The nine year old siblings arrived at Symbio seven years ago from Auckland Zoo as part of a regional captive management breeding program.
During their time at Helensburgh they have helped educate and inspire hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and raising awareness about the challenges that many species are facing through illegal poaching and habitat destruction.
Marketing manager Kevin Fallon said the at Symbio has invested significant funds and staffing to provide a world class facility and industry-leading levels of care for Cinta and Jalur as well as Kato before he died of old age recently.
“Throughout this time we built the award-winning Tiger enclosure, educated hundreds of thousands of visitors about conservation and furthering their connection with wildlife, helped change peoples shopping habits, namely around palm oil products, to assist wild tiger populations, raised vital funds for in-situ Sumatran tiger conservation initiatives, all while our staff gained invaluable skills and experience in the daily husbandry and management of big cats," Mr Fallon said.
“These are extremely exciting times as it now means that Cinta and Jalur's work as ambassadors for their species will reach a whole new audience and it will allow the team here at Symbio to allocate more resources in ensuring that we have the most interactive and best visitor experiences available anywhere, while investing in a wider variety of conservation projects that are closer to home and focused on our own Australian native species."
"As part of these changes, visitors will enjoy new and improved animal presentations throughout the day as well as species such as Little penguins, Tree Kangaroos and a Saltwater Crocodile exhibit, as well as two exciting new infrastructure projects - all planned for the near future. The team at Symbio will also be furthering their work and involvement around breed-to-release and conservation programs with many of our endangered Australian animals."
Symbio staff have a farewell weekend planned for Cinta and Jalur on June 2 and 3 so people can come and say goodbye.