Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Kirsten Pisto, Communications Christine Anne is the Lead Keeper at Woodland Park Zoo’s East Team carnivore unit. Christine has been at Woodland Park Zoo for just two years, but she has been a keeper for over 13 years. Prior to working in Seattle she worked at San Diego Zoo Safari Park as the head lion keeper, as a bear manager at a brown bear rescue center in Sitka, Alaska, and as Assistant Supervisor of Carnivores at Wildlife Safari Park in Winston, Oregon. Her expertise in working with big cats is instrumental to the zoo, especially with three young, energetic new residents—the tiger brothers of Banyan Wilds . So, what is it really like to work with Liem, Eko and Olan? Christine treats a tiger to a spray of milk, a reward for working with keepers to practice health checks. By asking the tigers to stand up, keepers can  easily check their paws, belly and mouth. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. We asked Christine to give us the inside scoop on the tig...

Posted by Kirsten Pisto, Communications Today is Endangered Species Day, a time to reflect on the importance of wildlife conservation and restoration efforts for all imperiled species and those who work to protect them. Malayan tiger, Eko spies on our photographer. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. With the opening of our newest exhibit, Banyan Wilds, we’ve welcomed three young Malayan tigers to Woodland Park Zoo. It’s difficult to put into words how precious these individual creatures are, not only in our care, but precious in their very existence. When we began this immense project just a few years ago—the exhibit design , the Tigers Forever: Kenyir-Taman Negara,Malaysia Project and our Show Your Stripes advocacy campaign—we were under the impression that only 500 Malayan tigers were left in the wild. A daunting statistic. Since then, researchers and camera traps have revealed that number is even less; instead there may be fewer than 350 individuals that remain. ...