Big Cats have an enriching time at Zion

Amafu enjoying her new big cat toy on a sunny winter's day

The big cats at Zion Wildlife Gardens had a wonderful and fun surprise in Kamo Whangarei, when some very special big cat toys were delivered to the park on Wednesday 8 June.

The toys were donated by the UK based charity group Toyz for Cats at Zion. They were ordered from Boomer Ball in the USA and were sent all the way to New Zealand for delivery to the park.

The group was formed in December of 2010, and in that short time have worked hard to raise the funds to purchase the toys, now at Zion Wildlife Gardens.

Enrichment for captive animals is an essential part of improving their lives. 

Zion already have an enrichment programme in place, this donation of big cat toys will enhance that programme. It will provide variety to alleviate boredom, and most of all lots of play. 

Big cats can sleep up to 18 hours a day. 

They weren't sleeping on Wednesday, not with all that fun to be found !

Several toys were placed in some of the big cat's enclosures to play with. 

They had so much fun, especially two of the white lionesses Imvula and Amafu who acted like great big kittens.

Another was Tygo, the largest of the Royal White Bengal tigers that are currently resident at the park. He had his toy in his water trough and proceeded to try and drown his 'prey'. 

It gave visitors to the park that day a lot of pleasure and enjoyment, not to mention that Tygo certainly enjoyed being the centre of everyone's attention.

Zion Wildlife Gardens would like to thank Toyz 4 Cats at Zion for their kind and generous donation of these wonderful toys.