At the time David Gill managed the South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria, England. In 2010 a female Sumatran tiger cub, Kadi, was one of the zoo’s star attractions. Her birth in that year was a triumph for David Gill. This is the man, incidentally, who has allegedly totally messed up the management of his zoo after it was discovered that nearly 500 animals have died under various inappropriate and unpleasant circumstances. It is doubtful that his licence to run the zoo will be renewed and he has handed over the zoo to Cumbria Zoo Co Ltd under a six month lease.
Back to 2010. A picture was shown of him cuddling this sweet Sumatran tiger cub (see above) who he had bottle-fed personally because she had been rejected at birth by her parents. The photograph of him cuddling the cub was featured on the cover of his autobiography, Nine Lives.
David Gill decided to reintroduce the Kadi to her parents. Experts had advised him not to do this. He proceeded against their advice and took the risk. The reason? He needed cub’s cage for another animal.
After he had reintroduced the cub to her parents in 2012 updates about the cub ceased. People who had kept track of the updates were perplexed.
A zoo keeper, Sarah McClay, who was subsequently killed by a tiger at the zoo in 2013, had disclosed to her boyfriend, David Shaw, one evening, that Kadi had been eaten by her parents.
David Gill appears to have covered up the tragedy by keeping quiet about it. Recently, he was approached by The Sunday Times for a comment. He told them to piss off but when pressed and when he had calmed down he admitted that the tiger cub had been killed by her father. He denied misleading the public when he had told them that the cub had been transferred out of the zoo.
David Gill blames others for the tragedy. He said that he had delegated work and that he cannot keep track of every task that he delegates. His unsuited to keeping animals.
So, despite the expert advise that the cub not placed with the parents, he did it anyway so as to free up a cage for another animal ($$$). He sent that poor little girl to her death. He should never have any contact with any animal again. He’s a monster, just like all animal abusers are.
So I’m assuming that the cub was taken for hand rearing and then as an adolescent put into a pen with two adult tigers.
that sort of animal husbandry 101 under NO. Many wild animals that are born in captivity reject their offspring at birth. Parenting is part instinct and part learning from their own social upbringing with their own species. It’s possible neither tiger recognized it as one of their own. What a dimwit. The chances of zoos ever being closed 100% is slim and in the future until then there has to be some educational level set for anyone dealing with captive animals.
Absolutely ME. What a dimwit but he thinks he is Mr Perfect with a fine zoo. Deranged arrogance.
I forget who sponsored the study but it was from a reliable source that almost all Tigers in captivity both in zoos and especially zoos like this one and privately owned do not carry congenital defects from inbreeding that make them unsuitable to be used in increasing the population of wild tigers. So producing a cub is often a form of negligence and simply polluting the gene pool further.
Also consider that the young tiger thrown in with two adults after being hand reared would likely have a fear response that could trigger the adult cats. Akin to throwing your domestic puppy in with a pack of wild wolves.
PS-sorry for the above typos’sometimes my dyslexia shows up. Eva
Don’t worry Eva. It is so easy to do a typo. I should know 😉
I have corrected them.
This is a shame, but if he needed help and had taken advice from a reliable source, this as well as other tragedies might have not happened . However I do understand that bad things can go unnoticed until a health issue has gone beyond the point of no return (for instance a viral epidemic or bot fly infestation). This is the reason why it is pertinent that all staff members are well trained and keep tabs on the animals and their health status, which is extremely crucial before and long after surgical ANY procedures. Eva says.
Yes, agreed. I get the clear feeling that Mr Gill is too arrogant to listen 😉
How horrible…
I am afraid that Mr Gill was a little arrogant and cock sure of himself to take advice.