According to my calculations (she was 13 when she was involved in an incident when she scratched a school kid in 2005) she would be 18 or 19 years old now and is the last Persian leopard in Australia.
Hey guys, which exhibit in the big cat ally did she reside in, is it the one that at times holds a Tiger now or one of the three which currently hold Snow Leopards?
It was one of the Snow Leopard ones (not the one by the bear exhibit, one of the ones facing the primate islands).
Thanks for the reply Zooboy! In general how did they used to set up in big cat row? Were all 6 enclosures usually filled? I believe there was a puma and black panther as well. Also are the constrictions they're doing on the old primate island there as part of the big cat construction overhaul? What do you think is going to happen with the bear enclosure, is it possible the snow leopards will move in there once the old Syrian bear passes and construction is ongoing for the area And lastly do they rotate which tiger is in the enclosure in Big Cat ally, the two times I've been recently the Tigers just been pacing up the back back and forth Sorry about all the questions and thanks in advance!
I have only visited over the last couple of years, so only ever saw Snow Leopards and Persian Leopards in the first few, and the Lions temporarily in residence as their new enclosure was built. The last two have always held Tiger and Snow Leopard on my visits. I think the construction will cover the primate islands too. I don't know what the plans for the bear enclosure are. Not sure on the Tiger situation, although I doubt they are rotated between the Big Cat Alley and Asian exhibits very often at all. It is a big deal to move a big cat.
That's interesting, I didn't realise that the Lions were held in Big Cat ally whilst there enclosure was being built, do you know if they were seperate or all together?
Not sure, I think they would have been kept together, but may have had access to more than one of the enclosures...
I also remember the current males lions being kept in one of the big cat alley enclosures when they were only a few years old, before the females had moved to Werribee, I have a photo of them somewhere. At that stage, the enclosures were filled (going from the back entrance end) the persion leopard, clouded leopard, either the puma or black leopard, the lions, and I think the last Jaguar was still in the 2nd last enclosure, then the snow leopards. I think there's 8 enclosures isn't there? I will search out the photos of my visit again, as I remember being quite pleased with getting half decent photos of just about all of the big cats.
I don't know if there are eight exhibits Astrobird, and you only list 6 species? There could be eight cages in total, but they often seem to have openings that link them together, so forming fewer total exhibits. This could be a fairly new development though. Were there no tigers there when you visited? I never realised the clouded leopards were kept there, I thought they were in the small cat cages.
