A rendering of one section of the planned Tiger Trail that will have three different habitats. — Courtesy of Safari Park
An entirely new home for San Diego Zoo Safari Park's Sumatran tigers could open by 2014, thanks to the park's largest pledge ever of $9 million.
Park officials announced Friday that the planned $19.5 million Tiger Trail attraction is assured of the donation as long as an additional $2 million is raised by the end of the year.
A couple who has chosen to remain anonymous pledged to contribute $9 for every $2 in donations to finance the new attraction, designed in part to draw attention to the dwindling Sumatran tiger population. The gift, at most, would be $9 million if the park succeeds in attracting $2 million in donations.
The anonymous donors do not live in the county but for the last six years have supported projects at the zoo, Safari Park and the Institute for Conservation Research, said Mark Stuart, president of the San Diego Zoo Foundation.
Rounding out the hoped-for $11 million in contributions would be $8.5 million in private donations already raised by the park over the last few years.
Conceived three years ago, Tiger Trail would replace the existing canyon enclosure that was not designed for optimal viewing of the animals. The new 5-acre exhibit would provide the tigers with a larger, forested area that would also give visitors a more intimate, close-up look at the endangered animals.
Safari Park currently has six tigers, including two cubs born several months ago. Tiger Trail could accommodate as many as a dozen of the animals, including several cubs, said Randy Rieches, Henshaw Curator of Mammals, an endowed position at the park.
"Although what we have is a nice exhibit for the animals, it limits the ability of our guests to actually get close enough to see how majestic they really are," he explained. "Sometimes, the animals can only be seen from all the way across the canyon."
Planned for the south end of the park’s conifer forest, where animatronic dinosaurs have been exhibited in the past, Tiger Trail will feature three distinct exhibit areas. Envisioned are rocks for climbing, ponds for swimming and deadwood trees for scratching posts.
One tiger habitat is meant to mimic an abandoned farm with overgrown, terraced rice paddies. Another would allow visitors to see the tigers in a stream-side habitat from behind a waterfall. It will ultimately be up to the tigers, though, if they want to be seen or hidden from view.
The planned exhibit, Rieches said, will be especially important in preserving and expanding the population of Sumatran tigers, which number no more than 400 in the wild.
Critically endangered, they've become increasingly sought after by poachers for what some believe is their medicinal value. An entire tiger carcass, Rieches said, can command as much as $50,000.
In all, there are about 235 Sumatran tigers housed in zoos worldwide, according to the San Diego Zoo. Plans for the new attraction call for moving tigers in and out of the enclosure as part of a cooperative effort with a consortium of zoos that also breed critically endangered species, Rieches said.
The $19.5 million cost includes some funds set aside for a maintenance endowment, as well as the cost of hiring a post-doctoral fellow stationed in Indonesia for five years who conduct further research into the challenges of preserving Sumatran tigers.
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