Week 202 (6th – 12th July 2007)
327 and Cathay finally meet face to face
The day had finally arrived to let 327 and Cathay meet face to face. During the week, Cathay was put into the quarantine camp for three consecutive days so that they could meet through the bars of the tiger breeding centre. 327 would at times ignore Cathay completely and focus his attention either on his food or on the humans, and at other times he would chuff at Cathay and show some interest.
On the big day, initially both tigers seemed a little bit tense. They just smelt the tree trunks in the quarantine camp, pretending not to notice each other. Then Cathay took the initiative. She approached 327 from behind and touched his hind leg. 327 turned around and roared at her, before walking away. Cathay did not give up and continued pursuing 327. Finally 327 went into the cage in the breeding centre. He stayed in there for a long time before he came out again. During this period Cathay kept sitting at the entrance waiting for him. What happened next amazed everybody. 327 stayed inside the outside cage and did not want to leave. Cathay seemed very eager to meet 327. She paced anxiously around the entrance for a long time, smelling it, jumping up and down for more than 10 minutes, and then finally she went directly into the cage! Was it the power of love that finally made her forget her fear of the gates? During various attempts with food as a draw card, she could not be lured to go into the breeding centre, but now 327 did!
However 327 was not particularly happy having Cathay in “his” area. He got up, stared at her and made threatening sounds. They boxed each other gently several times. Cathay smelt the whole cage carefully. Later they seemed to relax a little bit and both of them sat down. Later 327 went out into the quarantine camp, but Cathay seemed to like the cage and didn’t want to go out. She continued smelling around and then began to drink water from the water trough. 327 approached the cage from the outside and the two tigers watched each other through the bars again. But this time 327 was on the outside of the cage while Cathay was inside. Finally Cathay followed 327 out of the cage. She tried her best to attract 327, stalking him, playing with him, or rolling on the ground, showing submissiveness to him, but all these feminine whiles did not move 327. He kept his distance from Cathay and every time when Cathay got too close he roared and pawed at her. After a long time both of them just sat down. Apparently the tigers will need more time to get to know and accept each other. They will be put together more often and stay with each other for longer periods of time in the weeks to come.