GRAND RAPIDS (WWJ) – A beloved 18-year-old tiger at John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids has been euthanized due to poor health.
The zoo’s animal care team “made the very difficult decision to humanely euthanize” Nika, a female Amur tiger, the zoo announced on Facebook over the weekend.
Nika arrived at John Ball Zoo in May 2014 and was the first tiger to move into the Tigers of the Realm habitat when it opened.
Her caretakers began noticing changes in her movement in recent years and discovered she had developed arthritis.
“While treatments initially helped keep Nika comfortable, she showed signs of significant aging and decline in recent weeks,” a Facebook post said. “After a full examination by veterinary staff on June 8, the team evaluated her overall quality of life and made the difficult decision to euthanize Nika.”
She was born in 2005 at Beardsley Zoo in Connecticut and lived there until moving to Lansing’s Potter Park Zoo in 2009. While in Lansing, Nika gave birth to four cubs as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Amur Tiger Species Survival Plan breeding program.
“In 2014, we were lucky enough to have Nika come to John Ball Zoo where she has been loved by zoo guests and her caretakers ever since,” the Facebook post said.
Zoo officials say Amur tigers are listed as “Critically Endangered,” with only a suspected 350-450 individuals remaining in the wild.
Amur tigers have a life expectancy of 8-10 years in the wild. As female tigers have a life expectancy of about 14 years in AZA-accredited institutions, zoo officials said they feel “incredibly lucky to have spent some of Nika’s 18 years with her.”
“Nika served as a wonderful ambassador for her species, and she is going to be dearly missed by everyone who cared for her,” the post said.
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