Why Tigers At This Zoo Aren't Fed Meat On Saturdays

Tigers are carnivorous and depend on the meat of other animals for food. However, did you know that tigers fast one day a week at a zoo? On that day they don’t eat not a single piece of meat at all. Do you know the reason behind it?

Tigers are known to eat non-vegetarian food. However, tigers in one particular zoo go without meat for a day every week. According to a BBC report, this rule is followed in the Central Zoo of Nepal where the keepers intentionally starve tigers for a whole day.

Zoo’s Information Officer Ganesh Koirala told in a media interaction a few days ago that these carnivorous animals are kept on ‘fast’ every Saturday to improve their health. Koirala added that the tigers don’t face any problems with the food or in the zoo. But there is a reason for keeping them hungry. “To protect them from gaining weight, we keep them on fast,” he added.

Usually, the female tiger is given 5 kg of buffalo meat and the male tiger is given 6 kg of buffalo meat every day, but nothing is given to them on Saturday. This is done so that their digestive system becomes stronger. According to experts, when tigers become fat, many kinds of problems related to their health start occurring. A layer of fat begins to build up beneath their tummy and they get tired while running.

Although using medication to manage them is simple, this is a bad strategy and can affect them in the long run. Keeping them on track improves their health. As per experts, if carnivorous animals do not eat food even for a day, their health improves significantly.

As per reports, tigers eat a variety of prey, ranging in size from termites to elephant calves. But a staple of their diet is large-bodied prey, such as moose, deer species, pigs, cows, horses, buffalos and goats, weighing around 20 kg (45 lbs) or more. They occasionally eat Asian wild dogs, bear species, tapirs and the calves of elephants and rhinoceroses.

The Nepal’s Central Zoo is a 6-hectare (15-acre) zoo located in Jawalakhel. It is home to some 969 animals in 109 species and is operated by the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC). In 1956, despite being a private zoo at first, it was opened to the public.