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World's most endangered tigers born in Greece as zoos build a safety net
The cubs joined a shared database and received a vaccine that protects against three diseases as zoos work to build a backup population.
Three 2-month-old Sumatran tiger cubs received identification microchips and their first vaccinations on Tuesday at Attica Zoological Park near Athens, Greece, as part of a global effort to build a backup population.
As few as 400 Sumatran tigers remain in the wild due to aggressive forest clearing, and the species is found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and classified as critically endangered by the United Nations.
Born to mother Toba and the late Argos, the three cubs—two males and one female—have already developed sharp claws and teeth, requiring Veterinarian Arsenoi Psaroudaki and mammal curator Antonis Balas to work quickly during the restless procedure.
Zoos in Europe and elsewhere maintain a safety population of this critically endangered species to enable potential future reintroductions, an effort Theodoros Babilis, head keeper of cats and monkeys, says is vital for the species.
Zoo staff said the surviving cubs are expected to take names from characters in Homer's "The Odyssey," while for Psaroudaki, the work offers "some hope for safeguarding these really rare cats.