The story of the quarantined female Amur tiger is coming to a happy ending following its transfer to a new home in Eram Zoo in western Tehran.
The big cat, which had been quarantined for five years, received a provisional clean bill of health from Iran’s Veterinary Organization at the weekend and, following the Department of Environment’s approval, was taken to its new home on Sunday, Mehr News Agency reported.
The animal has its own dedicated keeper, according to the zoo officials.
In an effort to revive the extinct Persian tiger, the former administration exchanged two Persian leopards for a pair of Amur tigers with Russia in 2010. Genetically, the Amur tiger is the closest living relative of the Persian tiger.
However, the male tiger died shortly after being infected with the deadly glanders disease at the same zoo that now hosts the female tiger, prompting officials to quarantine the female tiger.
The result of the first of four blood tests on the tiger showed no traces of the disease, but the big cat is not out of the woods yet: It must pass three more blood tests, the last of which is scheduled for April 15, 2016.
Glanders is an infectious disease, usually caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water, which occurs primarily in horses, mules, and donkeys but is transmittable to other animals as well as humans.
If the published photos on the news website Khabar Online are anything to go by, the tiger’s new living quarters resemble an abandoned Qajar-era courtyard rather than a standard enclosure fit for the planet’s largest cat species.
Nevertheless, IVO officials have reportedly inspected and approved the living facility.
