Week 200 (22nd June – 28th June 2007)

Why lucky 327 always gets food!

The wildebeest carcass kept TigerWoods and Madonna busy for quite a while. They only finished it on Sunday this week. Then all the tigers jealously watched 327! He got one blesbok leg every day from Saturday to Monday while the other tigers went hungry. The reason why he got this special treatment was that as a captive tiger in the zoo, he would get food regularly. This resulted in him not being accustomed to being hungry as our other tigers are. Also compared with the other tigers his body size is the biggest, which means he needs more energy and therefore a higher intake of food. Generally speaking, he would need about 6 kg of meat on average per day.

After giving 327 a blesbok leg in the breeding centre on Monday afternoon, he was closed in and Cathay was put into the quarantine camp. What a pity that 327 was concentrating entirely on eating that he didn’t once go to the outdoor cage to say hello to Cathay. Then a blesbok carcass without four legs was put in the 4 ha camp for Cathay and she finally got her food. TigerWoods and Madonna paced along the fence of the quarantine camp, wishing they could also get some food.

But it was still not the time to feed TigerWoods and Madonna. On the next day a springbok carcass was put in the quarantine camp for 327. TigerWoods and Madonna began to pace along the fence anxiously. They paced for a long time before they sat down for a rest. Even when it began to snow, TigerWoods and Madonna stayed near the fence, watching 327 eating.

TigerWoods and Madonna finally got 2 springbok carcasses in the 0.5 ha camp on Wednesday afternoon. They were obviously very hungry, because once the gate was opened, they immediately ran to different carcasses. The surprising thing was that they still played with the food first before they ate.
Though the tigers often went to pace near the fence of the quarantine camp, 327 didn’t react much to them this week. He often stayed in the breeding centre eating, even when he went into the quarantine camp, he didn’t go close or stay with any other tiger. He’d rather stay near the pole shelter or hide himself near the outdoor cage. On Tuesday afternoon, Madonna was sitting near the fence of the quarantine camp. 327 went into the quarantine camp but he didn’t pay any attention to Madonna. At first Madonna seemed quite excited to see 327. She got up and paced along the fence. When she accepted that 327 was not paying any attention to her, she sat down near the fence again.

Cathay was not seen too often after she got her food. This week she no longer stayed near the quarantine camp for a whole morning or afternoon, but would rather walk along the fence between the 4 ha camp and the 9 ha camp, sometimes with TigerWoods pacing with her on the other side of the fence.