A beautiful baby snow leopard passed away early Monday after she lost her battle to a severe infection.
The Cape May County Zoo announced the tragic news to their Facebook page Wednesday, writing that the cub, named Zara, died after she ‘became acutely ill on Friday September 29 and despite medical intervention and treatments, had continued to deteriorate through the weekend’.
The post read: ‘Zara traveled to Northstar Veterinary Hospital on Monday morning for a neurological consult and to have an MRI performed. Despite all these efforts ‘Zara’ passed away quietly on Monday morning.’
A beautiful baby snow leopard named Zara (pictured) passed away early Monday after she lost her battle to a severe infection
The Cape May County Zoo announced the tragic news to their Facebook page Wednesday
The cute cub leaves behind her sister, Ahana, who were both named earlier this year after they were born by mother Tysa at the zoo back in May
The snow leopards were welcomed as ‘part of a national program to help save the native to parts of Central Asia,’ according to a news report
The cub reportedly had brain inflammation from a condition called encephalitis, and was unable to fight off the disease as she was only four months old and had not yet developed a mature immune system.
‘This explains why the infection acted so quickly and aggressively in her case. We are closely monitoring her sister ‘Ahana’ and mother ‘Tysa’ for any signs of illness,’ zoo officials said in the social media statement.
The ridiculously cute cub leaves behind her sister, Ahana, who were both named earlier this year after they were born by mother Tysa at the zoo back in May.
The tragic news comes just months after snow leopards were introduced at the zoo
According to NBC New York, the snow leopards were welcomed as ‘part of a national program to help save the native to parts of Central Asia.’
In related news, a snow leopard cub made its debut at an Ohio zoo just months after her brother was humanely euthanized after being diagnosed with genetic anomalies.
The female cub, Dariga, was born in June at the Toledo Zoo alongside her late brother who suffered serious physical problems, causing him pain since birth.
‘As soon as we did the first exam, we knew there were issues,’ Toledo Zoo veterinarian Dr. Ric Berlinski told The Toledo Blade this week.
Zoo officials said they are closely monitoring the health of her sister, Ahana, following the tragedy
‘His chest was very flat from top to bottom and caused displacement of his heart.’
Zookeeper Trudy Kurht said about the cubs’ mother: ‘Greta’s been an awesome mom from the get-go, … She’s done everything right, and we couldn’t be more happy with how she’s been.’
Aside from the loss of her brother, Dariga is in good care alongside her mom Greta and her father, Shishir.
Berlinski said Greta is ‘really patient’ with the cub, while Dariga is ‘inquisitive’ and ‘likes to stalk, hunker down, then explode out at her enrichment,’ adding: ‘she’s a pistol.’