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Miller Park zoo gets Amur leopard
By Scott Richardson
srichardson@pantagraph.com
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BLOOMINGTON -- Boris, one of just 290 Amur leopards in zoos worldwide, has taken up residence at the Miller Park Zoo. The 8-year-old animal is on permanent loan from the Minnesota Zoo at Apple Valley, said Miller Park Zoo superintendent John Tobias.

After some private time to acclimate to his surroundings, Boris may be on public display indoors by Saturday. Eventually, he will spend most of his time in an outdoor cage, possibly in a week.

Tobias thinks Boris was born in Canada before he moved to the Minneapolis area. “This is a Minnesota leopard. If he can handle their weather, he can handle ours,” said Tobias, who once worked at the Minnesota Zoo.

Boris, who came free of charge, will be housed in the Katthoefer Animal Building, which is scheduled for a $1.6 million renovation in 2009-2010 as part of Operation Roar. The project also includes construction this summer of a free-standing $400,000 veterinarian building with a public viewing window so visitors can watch medical procedures.

Boris was located through a zoo service listing surplus or desired animals. The Minnesota facility was making way for renovations, Tobias said.

A rare sight in zoos, Amur leopards are on the brink of extinction in the wild. Experts think perhaps as few as 50 animals survive, according to the Amur Leopard Conservation Support Programme, an international group working to ensure their survival. They once roamed former Manchuria, the Korean peninsula and the southern part Russia’s far eastern region. They’ve been killed for their skins and their body parts for use in Asian medicines, and their habitat was damaged by routine burning for agriculture.

Cold spring weather is not a problem. Found today only in southeast Russia on the Chinese and Korean borders, a few wild Amur leopards inhabit the northern-most range of the eight leopard subspecies.

A program is in place to raise numbers of Amur leopards by captive breeding, but Tobias said Boris probably will not be among animals to take part in the effort. Researchers find animals raised with extensive human contact tend to become violent with other members of their own species and not accept mates.

“They haven’t quite learned to be leopards,” said Tobias.

He would like to obtain a mating pair of suitable Amur leopards after the building improvements are done, he added.

Boris joins another rare big cat at the zoo, Besar, the only Sumatran tiger in an Illinois zoo. Besar came from Fort Wayne, Ind., in 2004. About 400 Sumatran tigers remain free.

The zoo has not had a successful breeding pair of Sumatran tigers, but the zoo had red wolves successfully mate in captivity and give birth to eight pups about 10 years ago.

How to help

People interested in donating to Operation Roar, a two-phase project for an animal hospital and renovations to the Katthoefer Animal Building, can call (309) 434-2250 or send checks to Miller Park Zoo, 1020 S. Morris Ave., Bloomington, IL 61701. Write "Operation Roar" on the memo line.

On the Net: www.millerparkzoo.org

Take a look
Boris, the Leopard, walks around in its cage for the first time after arriving from the Minnesota Zoo while Zookeeper Erik Heinonen looks on at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Illinois. (Pantagraph/B Mosher)
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Reader comments on this story - 9 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Wildcat wrote on May 5, 2007 12:52 AM:

" You can send it back to the wild where it can be eaten,poisoned or shot? "

here kitty, kitty wrote on Apr 21, 2007 6:55 PM:

" pretty little thing.......meow "

retired docent wrote on Apr 21, 2007 8:38 AM:

" It's a shame that any person would think the animals in the care of the Zoo are neglected. They are under the best possible care and diet they can get and are evaluated carefully each day by a qualified individual. Become a Zoo member, learn more about the Zoo, it's staff and it's animal program before you make uneducated remarks. "

yo wrote on Apr 20, 2007 7:53 PM:

" Will this cat get a partner? Miller Park Zoo has been known in the past for its breeding of cats. "

MRS. wrote on Apr 20, 2007 6:01 PM:

" I have been going to Miller Park Zoo for a few decades now. I have never, never have I seen an animal mistreated. I have seen them fed and they eat very well. They had a larger selection of animals; the bear cubs were one of my favorites as well as the monkeys. The Monkeys use to put on little skits. They were very well taken care of even back then. How many here now remember the giant turtle and the elephant or the amusement park? "

Zoo Member wrote on Apr 20, 2007 3:08 PM:

" Congratulations to Miller Park Zoo, the community, & to Boris! "

to: Zoo wrote on Apr 20, 2007 3:07 PM:

" People should NOT comment on subjects they know NOTHING about. My daughter is a junior zookeeper at Miller Park Zoo. As such, she gets to see behind the scenes & has access to information the general public does not. The animals there are 100% NOT neglected!! They are given the needed care & menu appropriate for their species. They are given "enrichment" opportunites regularly (ie boxes with cologne, frozen juice pops w/bugs). Check out the otter or sea lion feedings, & you'll see how "happy" the animals are! "

Zoo wrote on Apr 20, 2007 1:18 PM:

" I hope they take care of this one. All of their big cats always look neglected! "

aww wrote on Apr 20, 2007 1:06 PM:

" looks like he wants out. Can't blame him. "
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