Tiger kills potential partner at Blijdorp Zoo

Geram and Nonja were supposed to live together as a tiger couple and have offspring at Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam. But at their first encounter, the male reacted aggressively and fatally injured the tigress Nonja.

On Thursday, September 5, zoo staff hoped that the two tigers would mate. The tigress Nonja was showing clear signs of heat, so it was the ideal time to introduce her to the male tiger Geram. However, the first meeting was not without difficulties and ended in a fight. A day later, it turned out that the tigress Nonja had died from the injuries she had sustained.

In the morning, the zookeepers found the nine-year-old female lifeless in her enclosure. In addition to a few superficial injuries, further examination revealed that the tigress had a pulmonary hemorrhage, probably caused by one of the male's fangs.

When the encounter escalated into a fight on Thursday, the zookeepers tried everything to separate the two animals. According to the zoo, they finally succeeded, but the injuries were already too severe to help Nonja.

In general, it is never considered safe to bring large tigers together, especially solitary tigers such as the Sumatran tiger. For this reason, the timing of tiger pairs meeting must always be carefully chosen and extensive preparation is required beforehand.