Endangered Amur tiger pounces for Halloween pumpkin at Woburn Safari Park

Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire has given a four-year old critically endangered tiger named Elton his very own Halloween pumpkin to play with.

Stuffed full with his favourite meat, the pumpkin was strung up on a tree by Park keepers in Elton’s nine-acre woodland home in the road safari.

A video shows how the rare tiger sniffed out the treat within seconds, heading straight ‘in for the kill’ and grabbing it.

Keepers at the park often give these majestic animals treats that they have to work for, as a form of enrichment, encouraging them to use their natural stalking, hunting and climbing skills, as they would in the wild.

Heather Greenaway, keeper at Woburn Safari Park said: “Elton absolutely loved his meat-stuffed pumpkin and played with it for most of the day.

“Once he’d finished eating the contents, he even rolled about in the remains of the pumpkin to savour the smell of it.”

Amur tigers are critically endangered and numbers in the wild are thought to be as low as 500.

Major decreases in tiger populations over recent years are due to poaching for body parts and loss of habitat.

The international captive breeding programme for this threatened species is therefore of vital importance to help protect their future.

For more information about Woburn Safari Park, visit: www.woburnsafari.co.uk/news

Related topics: