The Alaska Zoo in Anchorage has a new addition: an endangered Amur tiger named Natasha.
Dozens of volunteers and staff members greeted Natasha at the zoo Wednesday, eagerly watching her as she strolled her new space.
“We’re really excited,” Sam Lavin, curator for the zoo, said. “It did us all some good to see tigers back in the exhibit. We’re just so, so happy.”
Natasha is 11 years old, about 300 pounds and was born at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas.
She arrived in Anchorage on a FedEx flight, and is the only tiger at the zoo after Kunali died in March of complications from old age. His brother, Korol, died in 2023. Both tigers lived to age 19.
Amur tigers are the largest cat species in the world. And in the wild, they’re only found in Russia and China, so they’re adapted to cold temperatures and harsh climate conditions. Lavin said she expects Natasha to thrive in Alaska.
“We couldn't have another kind of tiger and have them be comfortable here,” she said.
It takes a lot of planning to get an endangered animal to the Alaska Zoo.
Natasha is part of an endangered species breeding program within zoos, known as a species survival plan, which aims to support wild tiger conservation efforts and raise awareness about the species.
She was moved because she can’t contribute to the Kansas zoo’s breeding efforts. In 2019, Natasha was spayed while undergoing a surgery to remove a mass. The Alaska Zoo isn’t a breeding facility.
Four other species are in survival programs at the Alaska Zoo: polar bears, lynx, snow leopards and wolverines.
Lavin said, so far, Natasha is curious about her new home.
“She's moving slow and obviously checking everything out, but she's interested,” Lavin said. “We've been told she's quite athletic.”
It’s estimated that between 350 and 450 Amur tigers remain in the wild.
