By Adam Studzinski
BLOOMINGTON – The Miller Park Zoo is now home to three new female snow leopard cubs.
Bloomington Parks and Recreation Director Jay Tetzloff said the cubs were born on May 12, but have just now been put into an exhibit.
“I’ve been at a place where we announced births and then it didn’t work. So the big high then is squashed by a low, because the cubs didn’t make it,” said Tetzloff. “So we always want to be cautious when we make announcements like this.”
A pair of snow leopard cubs was also born at the zoo last year. Tetzloff told WJBC’s Susan Saunders cubs’ mother did not show interest in caring for the cubs she had in 2015, but that wasn’t the case this year.
“She was super mom this year and took care of them from the very beginning. They were born and she immediately cleaned them up and within an hour or two she was nursing them,” he said.
Zoo staff had stepped in to care for the cubs that were born last year.
The new cubs will remain at the zoo until fall 2017 where they will be transferred to other zoos for future breeding. Only 7,000 snow leopards remain in the wild.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].
