Snow Leopards Euthanized At Walk In The Wild Grizzlies Get New Home After Montana Man Hears Plans To ‘Put Them Down’; Leopards’ Fate Initially Denied

Two exotic snow leopards - a species with fewer than 4,000 surviving members - were euthanized at Walk in the Wild zoo because they were ill and aged.

Meanwhile, zoo staff continue searching for homes other animals. The zoo closed the last day of 1995, and plans to move to Silverwood Theme Park in North Idaho collapsed in June when supporters missed a deadline for raising $2 million.

The snow leopards, a male and female that mated in the past, were star attractions after arriving at Walk in the Wild in 1994.

The female cat, Sasha, who limped badly from a cancerous tumor in one leg, was euthanized June 16, said Lee Erle, curator of mammals at Woodland Park Zoo. The Seattle zoo loaned the animals to Walk in the Wild.

The male, Yuri, who had cancer in his mouth, was euthanized nine days later.

Both animals were 17 years old, said Erle, adding that few captive snow leopards live more than 20 years.

A healthy, 6-year-old male snow leopard named Boris remains at Walk in the Wild. Erle said he’s confident the zoos can find a home for the animal.

White with black spots, snow leopards have been pushed to the brink of extinction in their Himalayan homes in China, Tibet and Russia.

Captive snow leopards in North America are managed under the federal Species Survival Plan. Under the plan, biologists trace gene pools and help place young leopards in zoos where they can breed.

Erle said various organs from the euthanized cats will be donated to researchers.

Sensitive to past criticism about animal deaths at the zoo, Joan Versteeg, president of the Inland Northwest Zoological Society and acting director of the zoo, first denied any snow leopards had been put down.

“Two of them are on their way to Woodland Park as we speak,” she said Monday morning.

Versteeg later acknowledged the female cat was euthanized, but said its mate was still alive and would be returned to Seattle.

Zoo staff already have found homes for many animals.

Versteeg said Roscoe and Rosie, the zoo’s grizzly bears, “will be leaving in about two weeks” for a private zoo in Coram, Mont., near the west entrance to Glacier National Park.

Russell Kilpatrick, owner of Great Bear Adventure, said he agreed to take the bears so they wouldn’t be killed.

“They (zoo officials) told me they were going to put them down,” Kilpatrick said. “Nobody else wanted them.”

Walk in the Wild’s four lions will join zebras, giraffes, Siberian tigers and 51 other species at Doug’s Zoo, near Red Deer, Alberta.

“The paperwork’s completed,” but the exhibits won’t be ready for at least a month, said owner Doug Bos.

One hawk and one owl from the zoo are at the raptor rehabilitation center at Farragut State Park in North Idaho. Versteeg said other raptors, foxes and bobcats are going to a wildlife education center in Great Falls, Mont.

A pair of coyotes will go to Wolf Haven International, a sanctuary in Thurston County, Wash., she said. The zoo hopes to sell its elk to private out-of-state breeders.

Other animals already have gone back to owners who had loaned them to the zoo. But some, like exotic sheep, opossum, and domestic ducks and geese still don’t have homes.

, DataTimes