Page 84 - World of Animals - Issue #41

Zoos of the world

5 star The sanctuary
animals of works hard to
provide the cats
The Big Cat with a good
quality of life
Sanctuary in captivity
Manzi the majestic
African lion
One of three brothers, Manzi is
a sociable ‘teddy bear’ of a lion,
and a much-loved resident.

Laila the beautiful
snow leopard
Born at Antwerp Zoo, Laila has
been at The Big Cat Sanctuary
since she was 18 months old.

Pan the Amur tiger
This father of three was born at
Copenhagen Zoo. Pan generally
has a serious outlook, but he
does love water and big toys.

Amur tigers are severely
threatened in the wild by
poaching, due to the demand for
Xizi the stunning tiger parts on the black market
Amur leopard
Xizi is recognisable for the The mane attraction Raising the profile
heart-shaped marking behind What are your plans for The Big Cat Sanctuary?
her le„ eye. A big cat expert tells us why he’s so dedicated to them
Big cat specialist, majority of the time as head of tigers. We want to set out a strategic five-year plan, not
Giles Clark’s His, arguably controversial, techniques only in terms of the collection and where this
fascination with of hand-rearing and close interaction will lead in the future, but how we will develop
cats began from his with the cats were featured in the BBC the sanctuary. My main aim is to become a
early years at home, documentary series Tigers About The more significant participant in the support
surrounded by his House and Tigers About The House – mechanism for global conservation. I cannot
mother’s rescued felines. He explains What Happened Next. emphasise enough the importance of this
that the compassionate nature of In 2015, Giles felt the need for a development, which will enable the organisation
Nuwara the rusted his parents towards animals was a new challenge and le„ Australia to take on other species to support the co-
spotty cat huge contributory factor in his career. Zoo to become the director of cats ordinated breeding programmes.
The focus, for me, is about getting the right
The smallest species of cat in This love of felines developed even and conservation at The Big Cat team in place, which will drive us forward
Sanctuary in Kent. Since his arrival,
further at the age of 16, as his work
the world, Nuwara is a small experience at Paradise Wildlife Park Giles has featured alongside Hugh and allow us to make significant contributions
cat with a big character.
led to amazing opportunities to work Fernley-Whittingstall in another to both in-situ and ex-situ conservation. One
with big cats, which has taken him all BBC documentary series, Ingenious example of this, is expanding our opportunities
around the world. Animals, where he demonstrated his to assist in research across the board. This
A„er volunteering in India for 18 passion for conservation and ability to focus is not only from an animal welfare
months on a tiger conservation closely relate to the various species of perspective, but also how we can potentially
programme, he spent almost two animals that he works to protect on a make a difference, both here at the sanctuary,
decades working at Australia Zoo, the daily basis. and to help protect these animals in their
natural habitats.
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