Melaka Zoo has a white tigress

MELAKA (Bernama): There’s a white tigress at the Melaka Zoo!

The zoo received the Bengal tigress, named Elsa, on Tuesday (Aug 27) night via a strategic collaboration with the Sunway Lagoon Wildlife Park, said Hang Tuah Jaya Municipal Council president Mohd Rafee Ibrahim.

The one year-and-nine-month-old tigress, weighing 100kg, is the latest feature at the zoo, which is trying to attract more visitors to the facility that also operates as a conservation, research and education centre.

Mohd Rafee said Elsa will be quarantined first before being put on public display in the Malaysia Day week beginning Sept 14.

“The Melaka Zoo, through the council, has formed strategic partnerships with not only the Sunway Group but also various zoos in Malaysia and South-East Asia to bring in more new animals.

“The arrival of the Bengal white tigress is expected to boost the Visit Melaka 2019 campaign to attract more visitors, especially during the school holidays later this year, ” he told reporters after taking delivery of the animal here.

Mohd Rafee said that through such cooperation, the Melaka Zoo handed over a year-old female giraffe, Mercy, to the Petting Zoo at the Lost World of Tambun (LWOT) Theme Park for breeding and also a Larr Gibbon (White-Handed Gibbon) and a Brown Capuchin monkey to the Sunway Lagoon Wildlife Park.

Meanwhile, he said, the Melaka Zoo will try to get a white tiger through a strategic partnership with the Batu Secret Zoo in Surabaya, Indonesia, in September.

In return, the Batu Secret Zoo wants a Malayan tiger, he added.

The Melaka Zoo now has 183 species of animals. Nine new animals of various species are set to arrive by the end of this year through strategic cooperation with various parties, including the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.

“Among the new animals expected are lions, rhinoceroses, hippopotamus, tapirs, elephants and peacocks, ” he said. – Bernama