Goodbye Nias, our beloved Sumatran Tiger

Dear Supporters,

We regretfully inform you that on Tuesday 16th November we sadly said goodbye to our strikingly handsome, 18-year-old Sumatran tiger Nias.

Nias arrived at The Big Cat Sanctuary when he was one year old and immediately became an icon for the site. An energetic adolescent tiger, Nias had fun wrestling with his toys and tyres in wonderful shows of strength. If he wasn’t doing this, he was lounging on the rocks in his enclosure. This alone was captivating, as his beautiful broad head and shoulders, jet black stripes against a vibrant orange coat, and impressive characteristic ruff around his cheeks and neck were the perfect illustration of what a powerful and regal tiger he was. He immediately became the perfect poster boy for the Big Cat Sanctuary, an icon from the start.

In 2007, Nias was introduced to his partner, “Puna” to form the first-ever Sumatran tiger couple at the Big Cat Sanctuary. Puna, often a shy lady, was quickly impressed with her male suitor and the two hit it off immediately. In fact, having this big strong man around gave Puna more confidence and the two were thick as thieves and very affectionate. They went on to produce four beautiful cubs and have many grand cubs. Although not often expected to babysit, Nias was mixed with his cubs for a time and treated them with good nature and patience. A real sign of his cool and calm personality.

Nias lived at the sanctuary for seventeen and a half years and even with his advancing age his grace and power never left him. He was still able to wow guests with his power during enrichment feeds where he would easily manhandle logs or lift his body weight up a pole to retrieve his meal while also getting his daily workout. His more delicate side showed itself while getting into his enclosure pool. Either easing himself into the cool water very gently so as not to get a cold shock, or curiously, always lifting one front paw up out of the water. For reasons known only to him, it was very important that this paw never got wet, one of Nias’s endearing quirks. On very hot days, when the water in his pool was too warm, only a cold shower from the hose would do, so keepers would have the privilege of hosing him down, nothing was too much trouble for our Nias.

At eighteen and a half years old Nias had been monitored and treated for age-related mobility issues for a while, but over the last week he had become unwell and our vet, Dr Nic Masters was called to investigate. Sadly, blood results showed that he was in the advanced stages of kidney failure, this would not be reversible. It was decided that it would be in Nias’s best interest to put him to sleep, and we said goodbye to our fantastic boy on Tuesday afternoon, he will be greatly missed.

2021 has had highs and lows and we want to thank everyone for their continued support that will certainly help us through these difficult times. Looking back on Nias’s life at The Big Cat Sanctuary, he has been an iconic member of the family who has raised so much awareness for the plight of big cats around the world and has played a vital role in protecting his species as part of the breeding programme. He will be deeply missed by everyone who knew him, and we welcome you to send in your tributes and memories of our special boy.

We are raising funds on our Facebook post in memory of Nias for the sanctuary and a percentage of the funds will go towards Tiger conservation charities to help the protection of tigers around the world. Please visit our Facebook to watch our tribute video for Nias and to donate https://www.facebook.com/TheBigCatSanctuary/.

The Big Cat Sanctuary Team