Meet Dharma, Fota Wildlife Park's new Sumatran tiger cub
Fota Wildlife Park has announced that the new Sumatran tiger cub has been named is Dharma, after receiving thousands of suggestions from the public.
The new addition to the park was born on May 7 to first time parents, mother Dourga and father Denar.
The female cub is the first Sumatran tiger cub to be born at the Co. Cork wildlife park.
Lead Ranger Kelly Lambe said ‘Dharma often loosely means the ‘right way of living’, a poignant name for a cub of one the world’s most threatened species of tiger.
The Sumatran tiger has been classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 2008.
Fota Wildlife Park has said that Dharma has been a great ambassador for raising awareness for her species and has been very popular with visitors to the wildlife park.
As part of Fota Wildlife Park’s awareness and fundraising efforts for the Sumatran tiger there will be specially themed events held on International Tiger Day on July 29.
All of the donations raised on the day will be donated to 21st Century Tiger, which is an initiative to conserve tigers in their wild habitat.
Activities include:
- Tiger enrichment feeding and talk from a ranger at 1pm
- Educational talks at 12pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm at the Tiger Forest
- Tiger-themed face painting at the Entertainment Marquee from 11am
- Fancy dress competition for all ages
To date Fota Wildlife Park has raised over €27,000 for wild tiger conservation, which has earned the Park a Gold Award from 21st Century Tiger.
