Paignton Zoo's last tiger dies at 18 years old
Paignton Zoo's last tiger has died at the age of 18.
Staff at the zoo in Devon announced on Wednesday 2 December that Shakira, a female Sumatran tiger, was put to sleep because of "deteriorating health" in recent weeks.
In a post on Facebook the team said: "We are sad to share the news that female Sumatran tiger Shakira has passed away. At over 18 years of age, Shakira was very elderly for a big cat.
"As her age started to catch up with her in the past few weeks, she was on a lot of medication for deteriorating health and the difficult but kindest decision was made by our animal care teams to put her to sleep."
Born at Berlin Tierpark in 2002, Shakira arrived at Paignton Zoo in 2014.
According to keepers, she was a "lively, people-orientated tiger and was easy to spot with her wide-eyed, beautiful face."
They added: "She will be greatly missed."
Shakira's death means there are no tigers at the zoo after another, Luca, was relocated to Edinburgh as part of an endangered species breeding programme.
The zoo confirmed, however, that it is expecting two new arrivals very soon.
In a post on Facebook a spokesperson said: "The positive news is that we can confirm that we will continue to house Sumatran tigers, as two young female tigers will be joining us – please keep an eye on our social media channels for updates coming soon!"
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