Sense and Sensibility –Flying Tire

We got the autopsy report of Madonna's cub back from Lory Park, authored by a Senior Researcher of the Zoological Pathology and Research Program at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa. The report was full of technical terms, so I spoke to the researcher Dr. Emily herself to gain my layman's understanding. Essentially, the cub was perfectly formed with no genetic defects of any kind. The cause of death was heart failure resulting from the infection caused by the omni present bacteria E. coli. The lack of maternal colostrum may have increased the susceptibility of the cub to infection.

The report brought me back again to that sad Saturday over a week ago. When I was informed of the cub's illness at first that afternoon, I already had an uneasy feeling, unlike the feeling I had when Hulooo got severe constipation. Despite that later Kim told me the cub's fever and convulsion had gone down, I still felt uneasy, and did not want to go to sleep until the early hours of Sunday morning, when I received the phone call of nightmare at 2.15am.

Two days ago, when Tigris told me he needed to get the Nissan truck I was using at Laohu washed and tanked to get ready for my trip to Bloemfontain airport, I felt uneasy. We normally use another - newer and far more reliable- vehicle for long distance trips, particularly for when we have guests to transport, like now. Early this morning, on the two-hour trip to Bloemfontain airport to catch the 9.50am flight, I said to Tigris again that we should be taking the Toyota Hilux as we normally do. Not long after that, I heard our Nissan crashing down on the N1 highway and the wheel flying off from the left front of the Nissan! For a moment, I thought our truck was going to turn upside down, having lost the balance. Tigris did a remarkable job of controlling the truck that we finally had a smooth landing on the hard shoulder of the Highway. Boy, thank goodness there were no vehicles directly after us-we may well end up in hospital at the least.

Out of our truck, for a moment, we wondered where the wheel flew off and if it could be repaired. However, the bolts seemed to be broken. Then Robert, who has been visiting me at Laohu Valley with his friend, alerted us that we had a flight to catch in an hour and half. Still determined to try catching the flight, Robert's Zulu friend stepped on the side of the highway, hitchhiking. A little utility truck stopped by. A Khosa gentleman in his 50s got out. Despite being late for work himself, he kindly took us in the direction of Bloemfontein, still a 100 kilometers away. Zulu and myself squeezed into the small driver's cabin while Robert and Tigris got onto the back of his mini truck. He was phoned by his boss five times before he had to stop another car, getting a Sotho driver to continue taking us all the way to the airport. Christian, who was on his way to his farm, was so kind to also offer organizing having our vehicle taken first to the nearby town of Edenburg, for fear that it might get stolen or broken apart, if it continued left abandoned on the highway.. Christian told me of incidences that he knew where vehicles turned over completely when front wheels fell off. It did make me feel as if I won a lottery!

We remarkably made it to the airport right before the flight was due to depart. All I could say is: we lucked out today, in more ways than one!!! A Tigris well in control of the wheel, and two such kindly South Africans!

Quan Li
Johannesburg

Cathay's Cubs Overnight Under the Milky Way

April 8th: Cubs Eyes Opened

Both cubs’ eyes opened, though they still can not see. The one with a clear tear drop on his left eyebrow (like Hope) is the more active one. He moved about, climbing on his mum' bum, lying on top her tail, listening intently with his little ears. When Cathay leaves them a while, he would go straight to his brother and cuddle up on top of him and sleep. Both of them are so fat and round, so when Cathay licks them, they often get rolled around. Cathay is still so careful with her moves and slowly would she get up, slowly would she turn around and slowly would she lie down again. She is such a good mother that I thought to put one or two Madonna's cubs with Cathay, should Madonna have problems raising her own babies. We will see!

April 22: Cubs First Night Out Under Stars

After that scare we had when Cathay took her cubs out of the breeding center, we were more careful with her. However, it seemed that she became increasingly paranoid even with noises of the infrequent vehicles in the distance. Several times lately we observed that she would be pacing with one of her cubs in her mouth trying to get out of the breeding center. We had thought it was due to noise of the vehicles but saw her pacing even without any vehicles nearby. She had also moved her cubs from the box in Cage 5 to the box in cage 2, during the night when the cold current swept through South Africa a couple of days ago. Maybe she felt there was less wind coming through or maybe less noise from the metal roof. Again this demonstrated her supreme intelligence and strong mother love for her cubs.

Today, we had no clue why but she started pacing non-stop again carrying her cub in her mouth. Even with the absence of vehicles, she did not stop. We were all baffled. What was the reason? When we next checked, both of her cubs had dropped out of the breeding center, lying outside on the ground. We had to open the gate to let Cathay out as well. She promptly took them to the wooden pole shelter. The day was warm-maybe that is what she wants? But tonight's temperature is forecasted to be minus 1. I was worried that the cubs might not deal with the cold. However, Nick the ex-tiger keeper said that mother love is more important for the survival of the cubs. I just have to count on Cathay's intelligence to look after her cubs and take them back indoors if the temperature dropped to unbearably low. Despite worries, we left Cathay and her cubs to spend their first night out together under the bright stars.

April 23: Hulooo Turns Five Months Old

We went to check on Cathay and her cubs in the morning. The cubs were lying next to her.. Initially I could not see the cubs moving and I worried they may have been frozen to death. I cursed my Nikon binoculars, even though they are among the best. Finally, one cub moved. Then another! Both cubs moved and later also cried when mummy tiger was away to feed on the food she had hidden under the grass in another box. I was relieved. They survived the cold night, well and fine. Cathay continues to surpass my estimation of her intelligence and I truly wonder, how much more intelligent the cats are than the high intelligence I already accord to them???

Today is also Hulooo's five month birthday. He duly received both the CCTV and Xinhua representative. He was so excited to see his old friends and kept running from one person to another, working up a real excitement that he started jumping on everyone, producing duly some damages. My red leather jacket from Buenos Aires received more holes from Hulooo and now I can proudly point to this "war" torn jacket as Tiger torn jacket.

Nick had also given me a tip. If Hulooo gets too rough from being excited, tell him he is a bad boy and leave his enclosure. I did so this morning. When I returned this afternoon, he was so sweet and careful. He would be charging at me at full speed, but stop just short of jumping at me. He did this so many times, wanting to play rough like a tiger but did not dare to do so for fear that I may leave him. He uttered such sad sounds of this frustration from the half played games. I felt so sorry for him- how I wish he had a little sibling to play with!

Finally he decide he was not going to waste his time getting me to play with him, he started playing with the green plastic ball, slightly bigger than a baseball. He carried the ball to me as if wanting me to throw it for him, very much like my cat DiDi, so I did. He enjoyed this back and forth for a while. Then he picked up the leftover springbok leg and played with it as if it were alive, carrying it like a prey here and there, jumping up with it happily - thoroughly enjoying himself. When a new leg of antelope was given him, a blesbok one for the first ever time, he set on devouring it immediately, never seem to notice that this came from a different antelope than he used to eat before.

We will soon start wild training him to hone his skills, since his wild instincts have already come through quite abundantly from the way he plays.

April 24th: Cathay and Hulooo

Cathay and her cubs spent another night out under the stars and the cubs were well. When I went to observe the family, Cathay was sleeping with the cubs peacefully. However, Hulooo, upon loosing sight of me, started whining pitifully. Cathay woke up immediately upon Hulooo's cries and went to the edge of the shelter to listen intently for quite some time. One could feel her strong mother instinct wanting to help Hulooo...

Here I also want to make some comments on the messages left by netizen supporters. Your supports and suggestions are very welcome! I thank you again for your defence - all of you, I know your names! Thank you also for the suggestions on the sperms and eggs regarding tigers mating! Thank you also for your suggestion that we need to increase the numbers-you are right on the spot! We are trying to find a balance between breeding (increasing the numbers) as fast as we can, while making them gain wild abilities as fast as they can as well. All your suggestions are very very welcome indeed. Zhongren Shichai Huoyan Gao!

Thank you!!!

Quan Li
Laohu Valley Reserve

Death of a Fragile Little King

All seemed going well with Madonna's cub. He was so big when born on Saturday April 12th at 1.36 kg and his weight increased to 1.60 kilos on Wednesday April 16th when I saw him again at Lory Park. He drank more milk than Hulooo did at the same age, about 50 to 100 ml more and he looked very healthy, crawling about... Although a cub's survival is very fragile within the first few months of birth, particularly within the first 10 days, I never expected things could turn so bad so quickly, yet again!

At around 5pm on Saturday 19th, I got a call from Lory Park to inform me that the cub had high temperature and convulsions and Kim was on her way to the vet in Pretoria. It sounded bad but I was hopeful that being such a big and strong cub, he could get over it quickly; much like Hulooo did with his constipation. At 6 pm, Kim almost reached the vet. At 8.30 pm or so, Kim said she had returned to Lory Park with the cub on IV to keep him hydrated. His temperature had gone down and convulsion stopped, so it looked like he was on the amend. I sighed a sigh of relieve.

But just when I was about to retire to bed at 2.15 am, the phone rang and it was Kim. My heart raced, with a bad feel. Indeed, the cub had just died.....This lively and strong cub had just turned one week old.

Kim said the blood test showed there was a lot of white blood cells-meaning they were fighting an infection. I asked for an autopsy report done.

Although I understand that no cubs' life are secure within the first six months, the sudden death of Madonna's first cub will continue to haunt me... Though he lived for only a short week, the lovely image of this 'Hutouhunao' cub will forever be imprinted in my heart...

An autopsy is being conducted to find out the cause of his death.

Meanwhile, Hulooo was extremely playful in this suddenly very cold weather, reducing my fears that he may suffer from the cold. TigerWoods saw him from the other side of the fence for the first ever time on Sunday and must have recognized Hulooo as his son; for he chuffed at Hulooo non-stop and followed Hulooo's every playful movement, without taking his eyes off him. Hulooo however just returned TigerWoods' greetings a few times, preferring jumping onto his human parents... Every time we visited him, he would dash out of his shed to greet us excitedly. Every time we said Goodbye to him, his little body would perch up next to the fence crying. He was zapped by the electric fence a couple of times, when he stood up begging us to stay. I am so torn between wanting to wean him off human contacts on the one hand and worrying about his loneliness and need for company on the other. He is after all still a small child who needs mother's care.....

Quan Li

Laohu Valley Reserve

Hulooo Return Home (Hulu Hui Niangjia)

Hulooo had his last inoculation of a live virus on April 8th and he had no bad reactions. He was now ready to return to Laohu Valley Reserve to be rewilded and become a self sufficient hunter. Weighing in at 20 kilos, he could already do some serious damage. His compact little body is pure energy and his love of his human parents will be a huge challenge for us. We need to wean him off humans as soon as possible but still ensure he is happy mentally at such a young age when mother care is still a must in the wild.

Our assistant reserve manager Marius and I left for Johannesburg where we picked up Nick Marx at the airport in the morning of April 16th. I met Nick years ago in UK. He used to be a tiger keeper at an English zoo, but left to do a Master degree in conservation biology. He now works for a wildlife organization in wildlife rescue in Cambodia. I took advantage of his visit to utilize his expertise to help us escort Hulooo back to Laohu Valley.

We arrived at Lory Park at 10am. Kim had already prepared Hulooo's travel kennel and toys. We went to Hulooo's enclosure and he was so happy to see us. He stood up against his enclosure fence to greet us. Kim opened the gate and Hulooo came out, following her happily. He stopped from time to time to smell the grass and plants. When he reached inside the animal hospital, he ran happily forward, only to bang his head on the glass door. He turned around sheepishly back to his "mom" Kim. He was put inside the travel kennel very easily but first thing he did was a poo!

We loaded him and his toys onto the back of the pickup truck. Hulooo seemed to enjoy the wood shavings put inside the kennel for his comfort, rolling around, though his body size was now a tad too big for that. He seemed very happy, chuffing non-stop, though not knowing where he would be going. We gave him a big piece of bone to chew on before embarking on our trip back to Laohu, leaving Hulooo's human mummy behind.

Hulooo chuffed sweetly from the back of the pickup and we would chuff back to assure him. Nick and I had a lot to catch up but our conversation started to get interrupted by Hulooo's little cries for attention. It was a six hour drive and after about two hours we stopped to give him some water and food. He devoured the chicken. After the food, he promptly fell asleep.

We arrived at Laohu Valley Reserve on schedule at 6pm and Hulooo was let out into the Tree camp with his "bed" and toys. He came out of his kennel, smelling carefully all the new grasses and treaded on the ground carefully. This camp is a lot bigger than the enclose at Lory Park and it will take him a while to get familiar with all of it. Suddenly, he jumped up and dashed towards us, being playful. Then he smelled the trip wire, biting it. We have turned off the electriciity of the fence to settle him down. Eventually we gave him a blesbok leg which he tried to eat. We left him under the stars to explore slowly the entire camp. Interestingly Madonna had been watching from the neighbouring camp...

The Second day at Laohu, Hulooo seemed to be happy. He looked so tiny and so cute in this big camp! He still does not yet know that the electric wire can shock him once it is turned on and liked to walk between the wire and the electric fence. Maybe because he is in a new environement, he played less hard with human mates, causing less bite and claw marks.

Madonna watched him again from the 9 hectare camp, but Hulooo seemed to be more interested in his human games.

Quan Li
April 17 from Laohu Valley

Madonna's Difficult Birth-Two Born, One Survived

It was a nice surprise, but nevertheless a surprise that both Cathay and Madonna became pregnant almost around the same time, with delivery dates within just a few days of one another. This has presented some major problems for us. We say in Chinese: "One mountain can not contain two tigers" and this is certainly true of Cathay who attacked Madonna through the cage bars in the breeding center by biting Madonna's tail a few weeks ago.

We did not have much choice but to move Madonna to a newly built small outdoor camp. However, she has not taken a liking to this little camp. A pole shelter was built for her and a wooden box den was put inside. Initially she was using the pole shelter to hide from the scortching sun but when dry grass was put inside for her, she refused to use it any longer. She refused to touch the wooden den too and rather not eat than sticking her head into the shelter or the den. More dens were put inside for her and new postions were also tried but to no avail.

As her delivery date got closer I got more and more worried, seeing Madonna pacing non-stop under the hot sun. Her only consolation was soaking inside the water tank when it got too hot. My last try was to switch her with 327, since 327's camp has a big tree. 327 has adopted to this little new camp very well and I hate to disturb him. However, since 327 just prefers any shelters and cages to a tree, I thought at least Madonna would have the option of taking shelter under the big tree, if she does not like the pole shelter or the wooden den.

The switch did not take too long. Madonna must have found it curious to see one of her favourite trees now surrounded by fences and she could not go near it. She walked long the steel fence and then back again to where the gate is for quite a few rounds. She hesitated entering into the tree camp. But eventually she made the dash! The improvement was that she managed to take a piece of meat from inside the Wooden den! This was aleady April 2, a week before the forecasted delivery by Madonna.

The next morning (April 3), Madonna was a lot more at ease, lying in the shade of the tree. When she saw me, she took me for a "walk" and chuffed at me continuously, as if to thank me for giving her this new camp with her favoourite tree! She still did not use the pole shelter or the wooden den. She might as well not use them since they are all exposed to the sun with little shade inside.

To evryine's surprise 327 on the other hand again adopted very well and was sleeping inside the Wooden den!

I still worried that we might have to take Madonna's cubs away if she would not "hide" them properly and expose them to the sun or the cold. As much as all of us fear this may be the option, I still wanted to give her the tools to look after her babies herself. I asked staff to close off one of the two open sides of the wooden box so it would feel more sheltered from the sun and more like a den.

However, in the whole day of April 4th, Madonna refused to come out of the tree camp so our staff could not do any work to seal the Wooden Den. We were also fearful the sound may disturb Cathay. As much as I would like to give Madonna a dark hiding place, we simply could not do it now. The way things go we might have no choice except by helping her rearing her first born cubs through taking them away. I just pray that the weather will stay this mild for sometime to give her an opportunity to suckle the cubs on her own.

Madonna, although calmer, does not want to go near the big tree she was so fond of, which could be due to the "new things" next to it-pole shelter and wooden den.

Finally during feeding time on April 5th, Modonna was enticed out of the tree camp and we hurriedly put some tree branches to block the son away from the Wooden box den. She may still not use it now but I wanted to make sure that she is given the tools and option. I would hate myself to find that she wants to raise her cubs but could find no dark place to hide, like what happened with Cathay's first birth. Eddie of Lory Park also said, that she may decide to use it just even an hour before the birth. No matther what, she now has the choice we give her and the rest will be left to her. I am now finally satisfied that this is the best we could do at this point in time.

Next issue is the contigency plan for her birth. Madonna could have three or more babies given her size and this is her first birth. We must be prepared for all eventualities! if she has five cubs, she could be struggling since a tigress has only four teats. I am relieved that my team all agree with my suggestion to move one or two of Madonna's cubs to Cathay for rearing, pending on the number of cubs Madonna delivers and the attitudes she has towards them. A scenario plan was drawn up.

In the rain on the night of April 6th, I dragged Stuart out to see Madonna, worrying that she might give birth in this rainy and cool weather. Stuart was here for the weekend only and had to return to Joburg for business on Monday morning. Madonna came to say hi and layed down calmly, none of the anxiety she displayed during the daylight... I. felt relieved that nothing would happen this night.

April 7th came and went. A good sign that Madonna dared to pick up the meat from one of the wooden dens! Nick Marx wrote to me to give us more advice. I told him that we were late with the dens because we were not set up to have both females giving birth around the same time so we had to hurriedly prepare outdoor birth facilities such as dens, where Madonna would feel safe with her cubs. All that could be done had been done within the time and resource constraints now. Based on the mating dates of Madonna and TigerWoods, the 103rd day is April 9th.

We are now one day away from the D-day, but Madonna looked a lot calmer instead, taking shelter in the shade of the tree now. She has not yet shown any of the signs of birth according to the "book" . I am wondering if she would follow the "conventions", or break it like Cathay?! Her belly looks so big, and protrudes more when she sits and drink water.

She has always been the prettiest, slimmist, youngest and smallest tiger of all that came from China. She has always been "my pretty little girl" -the one that is most bonded with me, ever since I fed her water when she got dehydrated. I relish the walks she has taken me on. I always felt most protective of her and she no doubt felt the same- I felt always so honored when she snarled at other humans for "intruding" on our privacy. It is very hard to describe how she feels towards me in words and it seemed as if she sometimes wanted to tear the fence between us apart and rub her cheek against me or hug me.

I say this because it once happened. She was lying across from me on the other side of the fence. When TigerWoods got in front of her, she quickly stood up and slapped him for daring to get in between her and me.. Afterwards, she came to the fence and started pulling the fence with her teeth. She was looking at me with such beautiful amber eyes and whining as if to complain about the barriers that set us apart. I felt so torn! She needed a mother and she also needed to be self sustaining. I wondered if she could ever be an independent hunter. But my concerns were blown away soon when she proved herself to be an excelllent hunter when she captured two antelopes within 25 minutes when we had all thought impossible on her own. This was all the more remarkable since there were only 5 antelopes left in the big 42 hectare hunting camp at that time! Her hunting skills are now as good as Cathay's! And this "little girl" is soon to become a mother!

However, Madonna kept us waiting and guessing. We had expected she would give birth on 103rd day, which was calcuated from the last mating date of Dec 28th. But she may only became pregnant on the 29th, as tigresses only releases eggs 24 to 48 hours after mating. Anyway, we had been expecting since monday the 7th and by Friday the 11th, instead of showing more signs of giving birth, she seemed now more and more relaxed -even climbing the tree or sleep under the tree, that she did not dare to go near when she was first let inside. I almost wondered what her otherwise slendar but now big belly really carried, if not baby tigers!

At the usual time In the late afternoon of 11th, I went to see her and other tigers. When I got there, I saw her walking. Then she suddely stopped and took a sitting position that looked like what we saw with Cathay during her first birth. My heart raced and I thought this must be it. I hurriedly tried to open all the three locks that opened up the gates to allow me have a closer look. However, when I got close, she came towards me instead and chuffed and chuffed and then took me for a long long walk. No sign of such stress as Cathay had. I was a bit confused...She had not taken me for such long walks for a while. " what does this mean?!!", I thought?? Given this kind of relaxed behaviour, she couldn't possibly be giving birth soon.

When food truck cameby, she came to where she normally gets fed, but before the food was ready, she went away again. We tried to entice her to come to the feeding area but she had no interests. Now is this a sign?? She continued to be very friendly to me and walked but as it got dark, I was stumbling on stones and bushes.

It was now April 12th the 105th day. Madonna did not eat any food left for her and this would be the first signs. When she saw me, she chuffed and started walking with me. Her walking pace was faster than normal and she had to wait for me as I was slower, having somehow twisted my lower back a little when I stumbled on a stone last night walking with her in the dark. At 11.30, I noticed some blood on her inner thighs! I tried to walk with her to guide her into the adjoining small camp, where we hope she would give birth, because she had been eating meat out of the wooden den there so we were hoping she would use it to rear the cubs, like Cathay. It is easier to help her in case of need as well. I finally succeeded guiding her.

She was now in the small camp of about 50 sqm and she kept pacing next to me, even a bit playful. When I took my jacket off, making a little gesture of grabbing it. She was really friendly to me, chuffing non-stop, which just gives me the ultimate sense of satisfaction.

The cloude had cleared and the sun shone hot, and Madonna would sink herself into the water trough to cool off. I was scared she might give birth inside the trough, drowning the babies. Fortunately the soaks were brief.

At 14.30, I heard the sound of water dropping out of her vulva. Thereafter, for several times, I could see the cub trying to come out of her which but went in again. This was not good, as the cub could be smothered to death like this. It was not until 15.35, a larger part of her first baby came out of her vulva and hang there! She tried to move but felt uncomfortable so she stood still. Finally the whole cub dropped, giving Madonna such a big fright and she ran off, not knowing what happened. She walked around and then lied down to clean her self. But when she raised her head, she saw something moving! She approached the cub and got another big fright-jumping backward as the cub made another slight move. The cub looked weak,certainly from the difficult birth. She licked the cub for a couple of seconds. But just like Cathay giving birth the first time, she picked the already feeble cub up and paced...

It was not cold so we had some time to see what she would do with the cub. But after nearly half an hour of pacing with the cub carried in her mouth, we decided to open up the gate to the adjoining bigger campn hoping she might put her cub down under her loved big tree. She went into the camp. Sadly, she continued pacing. We waited, praying that the delivery of her next cub would make it difficult enough for her to pace that she would settle down and suckle.

Then unexpectedly, Madonna stopped pacing and laid the cub down. She even licked it. I felt relieved. But when I looked carefully, the cub seemed lifeless, in fact, dead! Next, Modonna turned around and started licking the grass behind her, as if eating it. How Strange!. But she did not lick much and then lied down a meter away. She looked now very relaxed too, also strangely. All of a sudden, I saw something moving and focused my eyes - it was a live cub! I was delighted and thought the dead cub was still alive and that I mistook the grass for the dead cub. However, I was certain I saw him dropping the dead cub down and I was confused about the live cub's position. Then it downed on me that the live one was actually the second cub Madonna had just given birth to! My colleagues also saw that the moment Madonna laid down the first cub, she gave birth to a second! In fact she had another fright when the 2nd one dropped and Madonna jumped up!. This was 16.26. Eddie had already said that the Mother could accidentally kill a cub in her mouth when she gives birth to another one, as the birthing movement would make her unconsciencely bite the cub hard. This must have been what happened.

The second cub seemed more lively than the first, which the difficult birth had weakened. With the 2nd cub crying, we all hoped Madonna''s mother instinct would kick in, like Cathay.

We had predicted that Madonna was not as maternal as Cathay, yet I was still hoping that her instinct would show when faced with her cub. We anxiously waited for her to lick the live cub. Instead, she rolled over in the grass happily with her belly up and then proceeded cleaning blood off herself!! The cub cried and Cathay looked from inside the breeding center - I could almost feel that Cathay would be interested in saving the cub. However, Madonna simply ignored the cries! The 2nd cub's was much stronger than the first and managed to climb next to Madonna's face, seeking to be suckled. Instead of cleaning and suckling it, Madonna turned her back on it! After nearly an hour, it was evident that she had no interest in her cub whatsoever. We strategized how to save the live cub before the sun set.

Just then, Madonna suddenly picked up the dead cub, and started pacing. Seizing this opportunity, Ronel and Tigris drove into the camp while Peter sprayed Madonna with the fire extinguisher to keep her away. Tigris quickly picked up the cub with a towel.

The cub was cleaned and weighed and fed Colostrum-the substitute that a mother's milk would contain. He weighed 1.36 kilos, bigger even than Junior (Hulooo)! No wonder Madonna looked so big with just two cubs!!! It also explained why the 1st delivery was so difficult because the 1st one was also big, making it hard for her little slender body. Two hours had passed and we were certain there were no more cubs on the way (much to my disappointment), we set out on the road to Joburg, meeting Eddie and Kim half the way. They will again handrear Madonna's cub.

Although we had thought about putting Madonna's cub with Cathay, Eddie advised that Madonna's cub would be too small to fight for milk with those big boys of Cathay's by now. Although we had also thought of taking Cathay's now strong cubs away to handrear, thus giving Madonna's cub a chance to receive substitute mother care from Cathay, it was too late. One can no longer handrear tiger cubs once they have opened their eyes..

Meanwhile, Madonna had dropped her dead cub into the water trough, drank water, and then walked away as if nothing had happened, unlike Cathay, who roared after her cub was taken away from her the first time..

As much as I was disappointed that I was wrong with the number of cubs, I felt more sorry for Madonna. Her mother instinct simply did not kick start, as much as I was praying for... Well, she will be four years old soon and fingers crossed for her next litter.

Two days passed and it was now April 14th. Madonna finally started eating. She seemed sad to me though with her sad cries. She kept coming back to the little camp where she gave birth and smelling the spot where her water broke. Is she looking for her dead cub????

“Escaping” Mother Tiger

April 1: Third Day All Calm

Morning: one cub was suckling on one nipple and another one battled to get to the same one and tried to push the first cub away. The first cub held on and the second cub pushed him. They nearly had a fight and the commotion alerted Cathay who lifted her head to watch.. The cubs calmed down each having a nipple to suckle from.

I noticed Cathay would get up and go to the outer cage to sun a bit when it is quiet and when she feels safe to leave her babies asleep for a moment. When she comes back, she always give them that endearing greeting of chuffing. She is so gentle with the cubs and aware what her sharp teeth could do to the vunerable babies and I feel that she was almost in pain by being so careful in trying to control the width of her mouth so as not to hurt the cubs when she was carrying them in her mouth.. The sound she uttered when she licked them this afternoon were to my ears full of love and emotions. When one of the cubs was straying a bit, she gently picked it up with her mouth and gently gently moved it a bit. I just can't reconcile the strengths and deadliness of her bites with such gentleness and care.

Cathay normally gets hungry in late afternoon. She would get up and start pacing. We use this opportunity to let her out into the quarantine camp for a stroll before dinner. When she is eating, asa she hears a little cry from her babies, she would stop eating, chuff at them and listen carefully, and resume eating if no more cries are heard. The cubs are very quiet and rarely cry though.

April 2. Love Spray

All as usual. Mother Cathay suckling cubs calmly...

We can't tell the cubs' gender yet since mother is rearing them and we don't want touch the cubs which may increase risks of mother rejecting them due to strange smells. The cubs are smaller than their brother Junior born last November.

She was in the outer cage when I came to visit. The cubs were on their own. While I watched the cubs, Cathay continued to chuff at me. Then she sprayed at me all of a sudden, and I did not have time to shun the spray. She continued to spray at me through the cage, a behaviour that marks me as her territory.! I can't but say I feel proud, even though my camera and my legs were now covered with her matter.

April 3 - "Escaping Tigress"

Every day we let Cathay out of the breeding center in the morning for a stroll in the quarantine camp, and another one in late afternoon right before dinner. This afternoon, at around the same time, Cathay started pacing, waiting for staff to lift the gate up and let her out. However, the cubs kept on crying for her and she would always hurry back to her "den". When staff finally opened the gate, Cathay only managed to step out for a few seconds before the cubs cried again. She hurriedly went back to suckle them. The cubs are growing and now need to eat more often, whcih is becoming more demanding on Cathay, who has less and less time to go out for strolls. You can see how hesitant she was-wanting to go out in the camp and attending the cubs' need at the same time. I felt sorry for her! However, she was never resentful of the cubs for her lack of freedom when she comes back to them and would suckle and and handle them with love and care.

After another attempt to go out, she settled back in her den again and suckled her crying cubs. We had forgot to close the gate due to the work needed to be done with Madonna. When a visiting guest arrived, we went to see Cathay. She was still suckling but the cubs were quieter now. She picked up one of her cubs just like many other times she had done to move them around a bit. But this time, when she turned around, she saw the gate wide open. Instead of putting the cub on the den's floor, she walked out of the gate carrying her cub in her mouth before I could react to what she did!

The gate system at breeding center is kind of complicated and the outer gates could only be closed from outside. By the time I alerted Tigris to come to close the gate, Cathay had dropped her first cub in the grass, come back in her den and picked up the second cub. She was angry we shut her in while her first cub was outside, so we let her out, thinking that she would just need a walk and would come back in to have dinner. How wrong we were!!!

For the next two hours, it was a battle to get her back in. She paced along the fence carrying one cub or another in turn, with 327 whining and chuffing in the neighbouring camp. As it got darker, we were battling to attract Cathay's atteniton with her food- to which she showed no interests. Her wild instinct had all kicked back in the dark and she just wanted to go out. The cub left behind would cry hard for a while but when it stopped crying, we could not see where this tiny creature was lying in the dark.

While I was trying to pursuade Cathay to come back into the breeding center with a blesbok leg bone in my hand, Tigris had managed to get 327 into the 4 hectare camp. 327, who remarkably went inside this camp that he had never been inside before. I must say 327 has a amazing ability to adapt, after he has been "forced" into the natual area and I regret that we did not do this earlier.

However, no matter what we tried, Cathay just continued pacing. An hour and half had passed and it was completely dark, with just the milky way shining in the sky. Just when I was getting desperate, my guest Joel said, "why don't you turn on the vehicle light to see better?". Suddenly I clicked! I drove the two vehicles into two different positions to light up the areas of the quarantine camp where Cathay was pacing. Seeing the lit camp, Cathay felt unsafe and tried to avoid the light which kept on shining on her. Eventually, she did not have much choice, but to head back into Cage 4 of the Breeding center to avoid light! We picked up her other cub from the grass in a towel and returned it to the den in Cage 2. In her hurry to get to this cub, Cathay left her first cub on the floor of Cage 4 while she was already shut inside her own cage 1. Gates opening and closing again and again. She went back to cage 4 to pick the cub up, only to accidently push it out of the cage from underneath the bars! We hurried go to pick this one up too and returned it to the den for her, after more cage gates opening and closings. But Cathay had now decided to use the den in the outer cage (No.4) so we left her alone...

It was a scary eye-opening experience! We just learn everyday about these smart creatures and I continue trying to get inside their brain but continue to fail! That is why I love cats-big or small, wild or domestic!

April 4: Returning to Normal

After last night's scare, we decided to shut all the three gates of the breeding center where Cathay and cubs are staying so she won't be able to see the passing vehicles or staff. We need to re-condition her to use the inner cage as it provides shelter from sun and cold. She still wanted to go outisde. Sometimes she paced with the cub in her mouth, but later afternoon, she was seen suckling the cubs, calmly, even though still in the outer cage 1. As the demand for her milk increases, she is going to have less and less chance to go out and it is natural she wants to take the demanding cubs with her. But with so many uncertainties, we simply can't afford to let her have her totaly wild ways at the moment to ensure the survival of the cubs. In the wild, out of one little of cubs, only one survive out of two or three, lost to all kinds of natural dangers such as snakes (of which we have plenty at Laohu), porcupines, Jackals, etc). With the need to increase the South China Tigers numbers, we have to do everything within our power to ensure the survival of every cub.

Li Quan

From Laohu Valley

South Africa

South China Tiger Cathay Giving Birth Second Time in South Africa

After my meetings in Joburg were finished Saturday (March 29th) afternoon, it was too late for me to catch the last flight from Johannesburg to Bloemfontain. Although Cathay's forecasted second time birth was scheduled for Sunday March 30th (likely at night), she could also be giving birth on the night of March 29th. I cursed the meetings that made me late and got myself on the 8am flight the next morning.

There have been encouraging signs of Cathay in the past couple of weeks. After her first birth, where we did not have a choice but to take her cub away due to unseasonly cold weather, our team had thought this would be the end of her giving birth within the breeding center. There were fears that being now so used to the wild, she might be forever loathing an enclosed environment and fearful of any objects that would be put inside her cage. We began building a separate camp with possibly a den ( kindly offered by the artist Katerina). Then ex-tiger keeper at an English zoo Nick Marx wrote me offering advice after reading news of our first South China Tiger cub born outside China into our project. Eddy Van Ecke, whose sanctuary has been helping us with Junior, also voiced his suggestions. A few wooden dens were consequently built by our reserve manager Peter Openshaw. After some size adjustments, the boxes were finally put into the quarantine camp and fitted into the cages of the breeding center.

Time was running out and I was fearful it might have been too late again to train Cathay. But to my delight I saw she had taken to a liking of the inside cages of the breeding center and took shelter from the sun. She was cautious with the wooden dens and only retrieved the meat from inside of it up to a week before the forecasted birth. One time we had tied a piece of meat to the inside of the wooden den to entice her staying inside but the little rope was no match to her strength! I was worried that she might not go inside the box for the birth but thought she is a smart cat and would know that this would be a comfortable and relatively dark place for her cubs when time comes. Good news was just a couple of days before the forecasted birth, we found she stayed inside the box when humans were not around.

No delay with my flight Sunday morning and I was duely picked up by my colleague at Bloemfontain airport. After another two hours I arrived back at Laohu Valley around 12pm. No news yet! I took pleasure that I arrived ahead of Cathay's delivery and unpacked my suitcase. Before freshing up from the dust of the trip, I thought I would have a quick look at Cathay and Madonna (who is also due shortly).

I arrived at the breeding center at around 12.55 pm and last round of monitoring staff had left at 12 noon, having seen no signs of birthing. A 24 hour monitoring had been implemented sincethe previous day but next member was not due until one o'clock or so. I took my little Sony camera and went inside the breeding center. I was glad to see Cathay lying quietly inside the wooden den of the inner cage: "Good girl!" I thought, "She has now got comfortable with the den finally!"
I was adjusting my camera and my eyes away from the sun and my irises suddenly fixed on something! I looked away from the camera to have a better look and could not believe my eyes! There lay next to Cathay a tiny little tiger cub! My goodness! Cathay had quietly given birth!!!! It must have happened just now! The cub was not wet so Cathay must have already licked it clean before I arrived. Cathay was panting but calm and did not react to my arrival, except replying to my eye contact. The cub started climbing about, clearly searching for the mother's breasts for milk. I hurriedly went to my truck and called my team on the radio to inform them of this fantastic news. The cub was mobile and eventually got hold of one nipple of its mother after some searching around and climbing about and I was duely relieved as he suckled. Cathay seemed to have done all the things we were hoping she was doing!

At about 13.25, She started licking her vulva and it was a bit dark to see through my lense. When I tried to take a better look away from the camera, I saw the second cub of this litter already coming out of Cathay! I had unwittinly recorded the whole birthing sequence on our HD camera my staff had just brought me! Judging from the time it took Cathay to sever the umbilical cord and clean up the second cub, the first cub must have been born at 12.40pm. I had predicted that Cathay would have no more than 2 cubs this time given the size of her belly and I got lucky: about an hour later her placenta came out which she duely ate up. In the time that followed she licked her two new born cubs carefully at various times and would carefully carry them in her mouth to one or another quarter of the box, if they strayed a bit. I am so amazed that the tiger's mouth, with teeth that break bones easily, could also be so gentle as to carry such tiny and vulnerable cubs. Cathay was doing everything in slow motion, attentive to the cubs with great care to avoid hurting the cubs. I observed Cathay getting up to go to the outer cage to drink water and urinate for the first time after birth. When she came back, she chuffed at her little cubs, also for the first time! My heart melt seeing her gentleness towards them. The cubs were quiet except one little cry, whcih meant they were having enough milk they needed. They were quite active in between the suckling, much like their little brother born last November, possibly a trait of the South China Tigers. Staff told me later that Cathay was "digging holes" into the dried grass Sunday morning, and now I saw she was digging again and pushing the grass over the cubs to cover them - so Cathay must have known she was delivering. The cubs kept crawling out from under the grass and I am glad they do since I am a bit anxious that the cubs may get stifled by the thick grass or Cathay may lay on top of the grass, incidentally killing the cubs underneath.

According to conventions, and our observation of her first birth, there would be signs when her delivery approaches in the following order: refusing food the previous day, increased pacing, breaking water, contracting and giving birth. However no such signs were observed of Cathay in this birth! I keep on saying: a cat is a cat and a tiger is a cat, and every cat is different and everytime they may do things differently. Cathay has proven she is a good tiger mum but she continues to give us the unpredictable within the predictable, and vice versa.

Most births happen at night but not for Cathay this time either. I felt almost as if she was just waiting for me to arrive before delivering her baby tigers! I felt incredibly proud of her achievement of raising her own cubs, even though that means we won't know their gender for some time to come.

Monday (March 31) morning, all was well. 12 hours had passed and the cubs were being suckled by Cathay, whose milk did not dry up, a condition that could happen to some tigresses. She layed there with the cubs on her breasts most of the time and licks them gently from time to time, full of love and care.

All had gone fantastically well for the critical period of the first twenty-four hours at 2pm Monday. Cathay was placid with the tiny cubs on her side, drinking milk in between their little naps... I want to thank my team's dedication to help me make this finally happen, and for putting up with this demanding boss of theirs, who does not easily take all things given as given. I want to thank my friends and supporters who give me advice, suggestions and encouragement. Now we can focus on Madonna's upcoming first birth, whcih we foresee to be somewhat more challenging!

-Quan Li from Laohu Valley Reserve, South Africa