Week 236 (29 February - 6 March 2008)
Training Cathay
The expected date for Cathay to give birth is at the end of March. Two special maternity boxes have been made for her. But for Cathay who has spent most of her life out in the open and under the sky, to accept this small den is not going to be an easy task. So from this week, Cathay has been given special training to try and teach her to accept it.
On Friday, one maternity box was put next to the gate of the quarantine camp in the 9 ha camp with two pieces of meat inside. Cathay took the outer piece and ate it but she didn’t touch the inner one even when it was dark. Later, when TigerWoods and Madonna were fed in the 0.5 ha camp, Cathay went to the gate of the 0.5 ha camp and wanted her portion. It looked as if she had given up. But after fighting against her fears during the night, she overcame herself and managed to have the meat. Since then, every day Cathay got some meat inside the maternity box and she has become less frightened of the box.
On Monday, Cathay was given two pieces of meat as usual, but one piece was put very deep inside the box on purpose. Cathay took the outer piece immediately but she lacked the confidence to take the inner one. She kept trying more than ten times but gave up in the end. Several times she was already very close to the meat, but became so frustrated that she even tried to bite the wood off the box. She stopped trying but sat in front of the box, looking at the meat with saliva dripping on the floor of the box. But as a tigress with a strong mind, Cathay overcame herself again and took the meat out at night.
To accelerate Cathay’s training to accept the maternity box, both boxes were put in the quarantine camp on Wednesday with some of 327’s urine put on the outer and inner surface of the boxes. Cathay didn’t show much interest in the boxes, but just walked around the quarantine camp. To ensure that there was sufficient of 327’s smell inside the box to eliminate Cathay’s wariness, 327 got his buffalo leg inside the box that night. 327 scent marked hundreds of times on the outer surface of the box when he came into the quarantine camp. After finding the leg, he immediately began to feed on it inside the box. Of course, the box was like a home for the real zoo tiger, “327”. Next morning, 327 was found sleeping inside the box with his buffalo leg between his paws. This might have been his best night in the quarantine camp.
TigerWoods and Madonna didn’t kill any blesbok this week. Because buffalo legs were given to them, the only thing they needed to do was eat and sleep. But Madonna was still interested in the guinea fowl coming inside the camp. She crouched down when the guinea fowl were very close to her and she was ready to pounce. But unfortunately, the guinea fowl were going further. So she did not chase them. During feeding, TigerWoods still let Madonna eat first just like last week. Madonna showed her gratitude by changing her attitude towards him. This week, Madonna and TigerWoods were seen pacing along the fence more often and they also played a bit.