January 26, 2012 @ 9:40 am
Two of Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium's clouded leopard cubs - Sumalee and Sabah - will be leaving their Tacoma home for good tomorrow.
Sumalee is one of two clouded leopard cubs born at the Tacoma zoo last June. She was paired for future breeding with Sabah, a male cub from Smithsonian's National Zoo, three months after her birth. The cubs will be relocated to their permanent home at the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Garden, where they will eventually breed.
Taji, Sumalee's brother, will remain at the PDZA along with six other adult clouded leopards - Chai Li, Nah Fun, Chee Wit. Jao Ying and Raja and Josie who reside "behind the scenes" at the zoo.
Point Defiance Zoo is one of only three zoos in the country breeding endangered clouded leopards, along with Nashville Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo. The secretive cats live mostly in the forests of Southeast Asia, but massive clear-cutting to make way for palm oil plantations has threatened their population.
The birth of Sumalee and Taji last summer brought the total number of clouded leopard cubs born in the United States in 2011 to eight.
By Clare Jensen
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