Big Cat move: A snow leopard cub's journey to California

By Avanti Mallapur, Zoo Curator

Micke Grove Zoo (MGZ) received a recommendation from the Snow Leopard Species Survival Plan (SSP) to acquire a snow leopard cub from Albuquerque BioPark (ABQ) located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We were delighted to receive this opportunity. Our handsome male snow leopard 'Ling' was euthanized last year after being diagnosed with a malignant oral tumor. Our facility has successfully bred snow leopards in the past producing seven lively little cubs. We were keen on continuing to support snow leopard conservation. Providing the cub with a new home would give us this very opportunity to do so.

I immediately sent the SSP Coordinator an email that included all the pertinent information for our zoo, our standard operating procedures and information on the animal health support our animals receive. He also received information on the Paseo Panthera building where the cub is going to be housed. 

The SSP Coordinator asked me to contact the curator at ABQ to arrange the animal transaction. I sent an email to the curator and requested her to send us a few photographs of the cub. 

The cub was born on May 3, 2013. She was housed with her mother 'Kachina' and twin sister at ABQ. 

Carrie McMorris and I decided to visit ABQ to move the cat to our facility. Carrie McMorris, our animal care specialist who leads zoo management of wild cats at MGZ, and I planned the trip carefully.  

The photograph above is of the cub taken in August 2013 when she was three months old  [Photo credit: Tony York, Albuquerque BioPark, NM, USA]

Six-month old cub taken in October 2013
[Photo credit: Tony York, Albuquerque BioPark, NM, USA]

Carrie and I planned to fly to Albuquerque on December 30, 2013 and to rent a truck to move the cub to California. We reached Albuquerque at 2:30 PM and after renting the truck, we drove to the ABQ. The curator took us on a tour around the zoo and we had an opportunity to see their animal exhibits and their zoo design. We saw an assortment of fascinating captive wildlife. We also had the opportunity of seeing a big fur ball of ears and paws in an enclosure. This fur ball happened to be the cub with her sister sitting behind the rockwork. The adjacent enclosure housed their parents. 

The twins huddled together behind the rockwork at Albuquerque BioPark, December 2013

The cub's mother 'Kachina' is very beautiful and a successful breeder having given birth to seven litters. I was amazed to see her father 'Azeo' who is very well built and has a beautiful long and thick tail. I felt heart-warmed. This cat has good genes!

The curator of ABQ had asked Carrie and me to visit the back gate of their facility at 8 AM in the morning on December 31, 2013. The snow leopard cub was crated by the ABQ staff. We helped them load the crate onto the truck.

We borrowed the animal crate from ABQ to move the cub to MGZ. The crate was made of wood and had an inner layer of metal plate. It had guillotine doors on two ends. One of the doors had a small door that we could use to check on the cub. The crate also had a water bowl attached to it. The crate was strapped on to the truck to make it secure to prevent it from moving during the drive.

[Photograph above] Carrie strapping the crate to make sure that it is secure

We packed some of the cub's diet in an ice cooler. The ABQ staff used a Feliway plugin which would calm the cub during the drive.

We left ABQ at 9 AM on December 31, 2013 and drove towards interstate highway 40. We had decided to take I40 west all the way to California. We were concerned about the weather in Gallop, NM and Flagstaff, AZ since these cities are located at higher elevations and could have snow and ice on the roads. 

[Photograph on the left] The cub's diet packed in an ice cooler

Fortunately, the weather was sunny and bright and the journey was very smooth. We reached the California border before nightfall. When we reached Bakersfield, CA, we turned onto interstate highway 99 and headed north to the Central Valley.

Directional map - Our drive from Albuquerque, NM to Lodi, CA 

We drove for 17 hours to reach our destination. Carrie's brilliant idea of driving three to four hours and swapping worked really well. We reached MGZ at 1:30 AM on January 1, 2014. 

Yes, we drove on New Year's Eve and I enjoyed every minute of it. We were bringing home a new member of our happy family.

At MGZ, we met James Rexroth, Interim Zoo Manager who helped us unload the crate from the truck. We moved the crate into our animal quarantine area. The next day, the cub was fed with her diet that we had brought with us from ABQ. She must have been very hungry because she ate every morsel.