ATLANTA — Zoo Atlanta is bringing a new furry resident to Atlanta and it means Bob the Sumatran tiger will have a new friend.
According to officials, the Zoo welcomed Buttercup, a two-year-old Sumatran tiger, to Atlanta on Wednesday night.
Buttercup came to Atlanta from the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oreg.
As a new arrival to Zoo Atlanta, Buttercup will stay behind the scenes for a month or so during a “routine behind-the-scenes quarantine period” before she can go out to explore the John P. Imlay Tiger Habitat.
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“Zoo Atlanta is thrilled to welcome Buttercup and to share the important story that she and Bob have to tell as ambassadors for a critically endangered species,” Gina Ferrie, PhD, Vice President of Collections and Conservation, said in a statement. “In the case of Sumatran tigers, the species’ most urgent conservation challenges are ones we can all influence here at home in our own daily lives.”
Zoo officials said the Sumatran tiger is one of the rarest cat species on Earth and is classified as critically endangered.
There are only 400 believed to live in the wild on the whole planet due to “serious pressures from habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, largely because of deforestation for palm oil plantations.”
Officials said Sumatran tigers also face threats of illegal poaching for their bones and fur, which Zoo Atlanta said is believed to have medicinal values in some cultures.
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