Point Defiance Zoo pairs Sumatran tigers for mating

With the official day of love just around the corner, two tigers at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium may soon be meeting their mate.

The male Sumatran tiger won’t arrive at the Tacoma zoo until Feb. 15, but he’s coming with the intent to breed with the zoo’s female tiger, Jaya.

Jaya is already mom to two tiger cubs who were born in 2010. Malosi, whose name means “strong and powerful” in Samoan, is from the Honolulu Zoo in Hawaii.

Sumatran tigers are “critically endangered” due to poaching and habitat loss that caused the wild tiger population to dwindle to fewer than 300. There are about 200 Sumatran tigers in zoos around the world, including the three currently at Point Defiance Zoo.

The coupling of Jaya and Malosi comes from Goodrow Beck with the North America Sumatran tiger Species Survival Plan, who works to ensure the long-term sustainability and health of zoo-based tigers by creating the “best possible breeding pairs.”