She may not be flying Tiger Airways, but a big cat from Taronga Western Plains Zoo is about to take to the skies.
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Four-year-old Sumatran tiger Isha is preparing to undertake a 50-hour journey from Dubbo to her new home at specialist big cat breeding and conservation facility Le Parc des Felins in France.
Born in Melbourne and arriving in Dubbo at the age of two, Isha is one of five Sumatran tigers at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
But with her brother and uncle among them and such a small Sumatran tiger gene pool present in Australia, Isha’s relocation will hopefully help rebuild her depleted species, according to keeper Monique Counihan.
“Given that the cats are critically endangered, it’s our obligation to use her genes somewhere if we can’t,” she said.
Staff have been busy preparing Isha for the trip, including giving her her first rabies injection and getting her accustomed to the 290-kilogram German-built box that will carry her on her journey.
She will be loaded into the crate on Monday night before she is driven to a quarantine facility in Sydney.
On Tuesday morning she will board a Qantas flight that stops over in Singapore before landing in Frankfurt, Germany. From there Isha will be driven to her new residence. The private French facility is footing the bill for the trip.
Ms Counihan said while frog legs may not be on the menu for Isha at her new digs, there will no doubt be some slight changes to her diet.
“Kangaroo meat is a large part of the Dubbo tigers’ weekly rations, and obviously she won’t get as much of it in France. I imagine she’ll get rabbit, chicken and beef - as long as it’s meat she’ll eat it.”
Once the stripy traveller has arrived at her new home, keepers will maintain a close eye on whether the French tigers live up to the romantic reputation of their human counterparts and can romance Isha into having several cubs.
“She’s going to Europe to breed - she’d already be of age to do so if she was in the wild,” Ms Counihan said.
Meanwhile, Ms Counihan said she and her colleagues will miss Isha.
“She’s such a princess. And yes, it’s a big trip for her and no, I wouldn’t mind accompanying her to France at all!”