Tigers in Grand Rapids: 3 big cats have arrived at John Ball Zoo

Name: Nika. Sex: female. Age: 9. Weight: 260 pounds. Nika was born at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, Conn., then five years ago moved to Potter Park Zoo in Lansing. There she gave birth to three female cubs - Kira, Savelii and Ameliya. Ameliya remains at Potter Park with her father, Sivaki. The other two cubs recently moved to Bramble Park Zoo in Watertown, S.D. (Photo courtesy of Carolyn R. Schulte, www.flickr.com/photos/carolynrschultephotography)

 Name: Yuri. Sex: Male. Age: 3. Weight: 450-plus pounds. Yuri, which means "George" in Russian, is named after Curious George because he's inquisitive. He's the one with the horseshoe-shaped marking above his right eye. (Photo courtesy of Catherine N. Stolz)

Name: Kuza. Sex: Male. Age: 3. Weight: 450-plus pounds. Kuza is Yuri's brother and also comes from to Grand Rapids from Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, N.Y. Unlike Yuri, Kuza is cautious and timid. When the tigers got a cardboard box with meat treats for their first birthday, Yuri ripped into it while Kuza shied away. (Photo courtesy of Catherine N. Stolz) 

Part of John Ball Zoo's new Crawford Tigers of the Realm exhibit is scheduled to open June 14, 2014. A trail and lower habitat area is slated to open in 2015.

Krapinka was the last tiger on exhibit at John Ball Zoo. The female Amur tiger in 2009 was moved to Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, N. D. In this 2007 photo, she strolls through the zoo's old tiger exhibit as preschoolers from Legacy Christian School in Culterville watch. (MLive.com file)

Urod was 17 years old when he died at John Ball Zoo in 2006, leaving one female tiger who was moved out of the zoo three years later.

Nicole, an Amur tiger born at John Ball Zoo in 1998, died in March at the Oregon Zoo. (Photo by Michael Durham/Oregon Zoo)

Yuri, left, and Kuza toy with a snowman. The two 3-year-old male Amur tigers have moved to John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids and will be part of a new Crawford Tigers of the Realm exhibit set to open in June. (Photo courtesy of Catherine N. Stolz)

By Matt Vande Bunte
on May 16, 2014

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Three tigers now are living at John Ball Zoo.

Tigers will return to John Ball Zoo Barb Snyder talks about the upcoming return of tigers to the John Ball Zoo.

 

Nika, a female, and two males, brothers Kuza and Yuri, moved this week to the Kent County zoo at 1300 W. Fulton St. They will be quarantined for a couple weeks before the zoo’s new Crawford Tigers of the Realm exhibit opens next month, spokeswoman Krys Bylund said.

The exhibit in the zoo’s Idema Forest Realm is scheduled to open to the public Saturday, June 14.
Nika, a 9-year-old, came from Potter Park Zoo in Lansing. She is unrelated to the two male tigers now at John Ball Zoo.

Kuza and Yuri are 3-year-old brothers who came from Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, N.Y. Each weighs about 450 pounds.

The new arrivals are Amur tigers, which are native to Siberia and have a life expectancy of 14 years for females and 16 years for males.

 

Barb Snyder talks about the upcoming return of tigers to the John Ball Zoo.

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