Dozens of sounds echoed through the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens on Friday morning — parrots squawking, roosters crowing, kinkajous calling — but one in particular hadn’t been heard at the zoo for some time.
Dozens of sounds echoed through the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens on Friday morning — parrots squawking, roosters crowing, kinkajous calling — but one in particular hadn’t been heard at the zoo for some time.
In an enclosure adjacent to the space that once housed Namaste, a white Bengal tiger and Panaewa’s star attraction until his death in 2014, a different, much younger tiger chuffed, snorting through its nostrils in greeting. Its paws were much too large for its body, an indication of how big the 8-month-old cub could be once full grown.
There were in fact two tiger cubs in the enclosure, cousins from Oregon who arrived Thursday evening after more than 40 hours in transit to their new home.
Though the zoo opens at 9 a.m., a group of about 20 Friends of the Panaewa Zoo members gathered early to watch as the cubs were let into the outdoor area where they will stay for 120 days of rabies quarantine.
The chuffer, who like Namaste is white with pale brown stripes, stepped out first and promptly sat down on the green grass. His cousin, an orange cub with amber eyes, stuck her head out next to take in the scene before exiting. The white cub romped after her and batted her tail.
“Everybody on the (Friends of the Panaewa Zoo) board is ecstatic,” said board president Pat Englehard. “It’s finally happened.” One board member said she was so excited she couldn’t fall asleep Thursday night.
Namaste was euthanized at the age of 15 in January 2014. About a year ago, the zoo began looking into getting new tigers.
The cubs are a gift to Panaewa from Great Cats World Park in Cave Junction, Ore., where they were hand-raised by veterinarian Cary Bennett (Lisa Wood of Veterinary Associates Hawaii in Waimea is the cubs’ Hawaii veterinarian, as she was for Namaste).
The pair was reared as siblings, although they come from different litters. Each cub is gaining about a half-pound a day in weight. They will be fully grown when they are 20 months old.
The male cub likely will weigh more than 450 pounds as an adult. The female will be closer to 300 pounds.
Their favorite toys are cardboard boxes.
Great Cats World Park owner Craig Warner, along with Bennett and park administrator Traveler Hawk, traveled to Hilo with the cubs.
Friends of the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and Garden, a nonprofit that supports the zoo, paid for transportation costs with help from grant money. Hawaii County paid for a portion of the interisland airfare costs.
“Moving cats is stressful on any cat, even domestic cats,” Warner said.
The import process for bringing the cubs to Hawaii was challenged early on by the Humane Society of the United States, with the organization’s local chapter expressing concern about Panaewa’s lack of accreditation with the American Zoological Association (Great Cats World Park also is not AZA-accredited) as well as the fact that Bengal tigers are an endangered species.
Zoo director Pam Mizuno said last month that Panaewa was exploring accreditation with the Zoological Association of America, a different organization, and might pursue AZA accreditation in the future.
In January, the cubs’ import permit was unanimously approved by the state Board of Agriculture.
Mizuno flew to Honolulu on Thursday to meet the Oregon contingent in quarantine, and said she was “amazed” on seeing the cubs for the first time. Each has a distinct personality, with the male more talkative and the female more reserved.
As with any carnivore mammal that enters the state, the tigers must go through a quarantine period before they can be allowed into the main enclosure. They were also treated for fleas and ticks before arriving.
“Because we’re a zoo, they can be quarantined on site,” Mizuno said.
“The (main) facility is beautiful,” Warner said. “The habitat is gorgeous; the cubs are going to love it.”
He said he expects the Bengals to thrive in the subtropical climate.
The cubs can be viewed during regular zoo hours in their quarantine pen.
Though they were given names by Great Cats World Park (Tzar for the male, Sriracha for the female), the zoo is hosting a naming contest for the pair. The public is able to vote on four previously selected names at the zoo information booth for a $1 donation.
Friends of the Zoo will hold a birthday party for the pair in July around the time they are released from their quarantine area.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.