Cancer has taken the life of one of the Minnesota Zoo’s beloved Amur tigers.
Sundari, known as Dari, was put down on July 12 after battling mesothelioma, an aggressive and incurable form of cancer known to occur in wild cats, including lions, lynxes and tigers, the Minnesota Zoo said.
“Dari passed peacefully under expert care,” the zoo said in Facebook posting accompanied with a video paying tribute to the 13-year-old. “Her keepers remember her as ‘a true matriarch, a pillar of strength, and an irreplaceable member of our Zoo … [and] a symbol of resilience and stability during some of the most challenging years for the Species Survival Program.’”
Born on June 17, 2012, and raised at the Minnesota Zoo, “Dari” was the mother of six cubs, including Vera, Brosno, Vostok, Yana, and most recently, Amaliya and Andrei, born on May 23, 2024.
The zoo called Dari a good mother to her offspring who nurtured the cubs, played fiercely and touched the hearts of many.
Amur tigers are considered endangered and were on the brink of extinction in the 1930s and 1940s. Conservation efforts in the wild and throughout accredited zoos, including the Minnesota Zoo, through the Amur Tiger Species Survival Plan, have helped increase populations in the decades since, the Minnesota Zoo said.
Since its opening in 1978, 46 Amur tiger cubs have been born at the zoo in Apple Valley. Of those, 21 have gone on to produce litters of their own, resulting in 86 cubs to bolster the world population of Amur tigers, the zoo said.
