Zoo Tales

Many of the animals at Colchester Zoo are classified as endangered or vulnerable.  More than 40 species are part of European Endangered Species breeding programmes.

These programmes co-ordinate breeding of animals between European zoos, and oversee any transfers in order to maintain a healthy population.  Then should one of the species become extremely rare in the wild, the possibility of reintroduction could be considered.

Igor

BBC Essex's Renee Hockley-Byam met with keeper Kelly Hand to find out more about the Amur Tigers, which now number only 400 in the wild.  Three species of tiger have already been lost, and the hope is to save the remaining five species.

The tigers come from far Eastern Russia in the wild.  Their decline is due to a loss of habitat and a lot of poaching for fur and body parts for certain medial treatments.

The new male tiger at Colchester Zoo arrived in November last year, and has settled in well.  Eventually the zoo staff are hoping the two tigers will breed.

If there is ever a need to release some of the tigers back into the wild, there will be some in captivity, but for the time being there needs to be a wide diversity of genetic stock among zoo populations around the world.

You can listen to Kelly talking to Renee about the tigers by clicking on the link below.