Brandywine Zoo will lose Zhanna the tiger

Zhanna, the lone tiger at the Brandywine Zoo, is moving on up to the Bronx next month. And she's on the prowl for a mate.

The 8-year-old Amur tiger, one of only about 500 Siberian tigers worldwide, is considered a good breeding candidate by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums based on her age and genetic profile. Her new home will be at the Bronx Zoo's $8.5 million Tiger Mountain, an open-range exhibit with grasslands, trees and a multilevel habitat. There, she will be matched with a suitable male and — if all goes well — start raising her cubs. 

Zhanna has been a star attraction in Wilmington since 2011 after she was relocated away from her mother and siblings at the St. Louis Zoo in Missouri. At the time, the Delaware Zoological Society paid $75,000 to combine two existing animal areas near the Brandywine Zoo's entrance into a big cat enclosure that exceeded national safety standards, zoo officials said. In a special ceremony, Matt Denn, then Delaware's lieutenant governor, officially welcomed Zhanna to "our Delaware family." 

It's unclear who will take up residence after Zhanna's departure. Zoo leaders don't have any plans to bring in another tiger. The only other cats at the Brandywine Zoo are African servals and a bobcat.

Various options are being discussed, according to Michael Allen, executive director of the Delaware Zoological Society.

"We'll probably unveil something in the spring," he said.

Zookeepers and visitors are understandably crushed to lose their playful feline, but they don't have much say in the matter. As an accredited zoo, the Brandywine is expected to abide by the recommendations of the national zoo association's Species Survival Plan, which helps sustain threatened or endangered species through breeding programs in captivity. The decision to transfer Zhanna comes with no financial incentive or guarantee that the Brandywine Zoo will receive her cubs, Allen said.

A Bronx Zoo spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. In 2012, a New York man was mauled by one of the Bronx zoo's tigers after the man jumped off an electric monorail and over an electric fence into the den. Explaining that he wanted to be "one with the tiger," David Villalobos suffered bite wounds and broken bones. The tiger, Bachuta, was scared off with a fire extinguisher.

The world's largest cats, Amur tigers are concentrated in far east Russia and northeast China, where they are vulnerable to poaching and loss of habitat.

Zhanna came to Delaware after Ashley, the Brandywine Zoo's former Siberian tiger, died of natural causes in 2010. She was 20. 

Before Ashley, there was Sergei, a male Siberian tiger who loved papier-mâché animals and pizza boxes. He was euthanized at age 19 after he became seriously ill and had limited mobility. Tigers live an average of 16 to 20 years in captivity compared with 10 to 15 years in the wild.

This month, the zoo is waiving admission fees for the public to say farewell to Zhanna. A formal bon voyage is scheduled for Saturday Dec. 31 from 1-2 p.m. on the zoo property at 1001 North Park Drive in Brandywine Park. 

The tiger's exact departure date next month is still being finalized, Allen said. Weighing in at 245 pounds, Zhanna will be injected with a light tranquilizer, loaded into a confinement crate and then onto an animal transport truck for the journey to New York. Her zookeepers will follow close behind to help her get acclimated to her new environment. 

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As solitary animals, tigers are resilient creatures that need only a couple days to settle into their new digs, according to Mandy Fischer, the Brandywine Zoo's assistant curator. 

"We're happy she's close by," Fischer said. "She could've received a recommendation to go to California."

On Friday afternoon, the zoo was near-empty as Zhanna rubbed her nose against a log flavored with various spices and perfume (her favorite). She stalked a fire hose cube in her enclosure, sniffed it, then ran away to her wooden perch. Later, she summoned up the courage to grab the cube and throw it around like a tennis ball.

A girl with blonde hair, wearing a turquoise jacket, approached to marvel at the tiger's speed, before asking for her name and age.

"She's too big to be 8," concluded Natalia Ramos, 6, of Middletown.

After being told that Zhanna was moving to the Big Apple, Natalia Ramos said she'd visit as long as the tiger remained "in a cage."

The loss of Zhanna means that neighbors will be deprived of her intimidating roars every day at around 4 p.m. (dinnertime), and crowds will no longer enjoy her breathy snorts, frozen fish birthday parties and face time while she balances on her hind legs for a chunk of raw meat or squirt of goat's milk. 

Her departure also comes at a transitional time for the 12-acre zoo, which has suffered from waves of neglect and disrepair over its 111-year history.

In 2013, separate trees crushed the zoo's commissary area and Monkey House, leading to the evacuation of 24 tiny monkeys and a baby toucan. The following year, the zoo announced a $9 million to $10 million expansion plan that called for a massive rainforest center with a jaguar as the "marquee animal." Initially heralded for transforming the zoo from a state facility into a regional magnet, the project was tabled for lack of funding.

Today, the state pays about 60 percent of the zoo's $1.5 million annual budget. An estimated 80,000 visitors walk through the gates each year, a number that has remained unchanged for several years. Even without lions, tigers and bears, children and adults can marvel at the red panda sisters, otter brothers, two disabled female bald eagles, an Andean condor, goats, llamas, and reptiles.

All told, the zoo has about 150 residents, including traveling ambassadors. The Madagascar Giant Hissing Cockroach, for instance, teaches schoolchildren about bullying.

One family travels all the way from Hershey, Pennsylvania, to visit Chuck, the petite swift Fox, who left Hershey Park's ZooAmerica earlier this year to join female Dakota at the Brandywine Zoo. So far, the pair isn't cavorting as conservationists had hoped. 

A couple of burrowing owls are having better luck. The sandy-colored creatures sit side by side, squawking at anyone who comes too close to their tunnel.

Before Zhanna's going-away fete on WednesdayDec. 31, the zoo will host its annual "Noon Year's Eve." The event, starting at 10 a.m., includes games, crafts and a sparkling cider toast. Admission is $5 until noon and free after that. For more information, visit www.brandywinezoo.org or call (302) 571-7747. 

Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.

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