Your Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - The Valley Zoo has had to euthanize Rachelle, one of its two Siberian tigers.

"She was an elderly tiger and had been showing signs of age for some time," spokeswoman Jan Archbold said Thursday, a day after staff put down 18-year-old Rachelle.

"She had been losing weight and was not eating properly."
Siberian tiger Rachelle arrived at the Valley Zoo 11 years ago.View Jason Scott, The Journal, file

Archbold said Rachelle, who arrived from the Chicago Zoo in 1996, was clearly miserable, so staff felt it best to euthanize her.

She said Siberian tigers generally don't live beyond about 15 years.

The zoo won't know what caused her decline, though, until the results of a post-mortem examination are available in about two weeks.

Last winter the zoo lost another of its aging inhabitants, a 17-year-old timber wolf.

Rachelle's death leaves the zoo with just one Siberian tiger, eight-year-old Boris.

Boris, who was raised in Quebec, made international news last month when the zoo revealed he had been unresponsive until bilingual zookeeper Ginette Heppelle started speaking to him in French. The zoo invited francophone visitors to come and speak their language in his presence.

Boris "is becoming more bilingual," Archbold said.

The zoo first received Siberian tigers in 1990, when Mat and Echec arrived from the same Quebec zoo, Granby, that raised Boris. The event prompted a feature display of Siberian tigers on the cover of Edmonton's phone book.

Mat died about two years later, of kidney failure. Echec died in 1999.

Archbold said the zoo must now consider whether to replace Rachelle with another tiger.

If it does so, the zoo will access an international species survival plan. The plan ensures the genetic diversity of endangered species, such as Siberian tigers, that are in captivity.

Zoos around the world have about 450 Siberians, Archbold said. There are about 1,000 in all, including those in the wild.

dthorne@thejournal.canwest.com

© The Edmonton Journal 2007