Hattiesburg Zoo's Sumatran tiger, Kipling, passes away - HubcitySPOKES.com

The Hattiesburg Zoo has lost one of its most beloved residents, with the recent passing of Kipling, its 16-year-old Sumatran tiger.

Rick Taylor, executive director of the Hattiesburg Convention Commission – which operates the zoo – said the tiger passed away on the morning of May 3 after some time of experiencing age-related problems. The zoo staff began to notice the issue back in March, when Kipling exhibited loss of appetite, digestion trouble and mobility issues.

"We had taken him in for a CAT scan, and he had some spinal issues that were just age-related, and we knew he was not wanting to climb onto things," Taylor said. "But then he would do (other) things like jump from the ground to the very top of his platforms, which further accelerated his injuries or the deterioration in his spine."

Because of that, keepers recently removed Kipling from his outdoor habitat to allow for testing and medication administration, after which point they monitored the tiger on a regular basis. During that time, he was given access to both his outdoor habitat and his indoor enclosure to visit as he saw fit.

"He finally came to a point where he just wasn't moving," Taylor said. "He might go out into the exhibit for 30 minutes, and then he would come back and just lay in the chute that takes him into his indoor holding, and sometimes in the morning he just wouldn't want to get up.

"So we knew he was in pain, and our vet had been giving him a number of different things to help with the pain and stimulate his appetite, and then they just stopped working. It was just age – he had good days and bad days over the last month and a half, but the bad days just started becoming more and more frequent until, probably over the past week, there weren't any good days."

Kipling came to the Hattiesburg Zoo from Dallas, Texas in 2018. In captivity, tigers can live for up to 20 years, but the average lifespan is 16 to 18 years.

"It's sad, and I think the staff has really struggled a little because he's a big, dynamic animal," Taylor said. "But we saw this coming."

Taylor said the staff will remember the good times during Kipling's younger days, when he was energetic, and in particularly his large personality. Although people sometimes asked zoo staff whether Kipling was lonely by himself in the exhibit, the tiger made it clear that he – like most male Sumatran tigers – preferred his solitary lifestyle.

"Kipling, of all the tigers (we've had), he didn't want anybody in his stuff – it was all about him," Taylor said. "We've had a few folks over the years ask us if he could have a friend or something like that, and we'd say, 'no, Kipling doesn't want a friend; Kipling doesn't want to share with anyone or anything.'

"As our lead curator Kristen (Moore) would say, he was the king, and he knew it. He would roar when it was time for him to eat, and he was basically saying, 'hey, you keepers, serve me – I'm ready.' So we remember that – we remember his big personality and know that he's not hurting anymore."

As far as future plans for Kipling's exhibit, zoo officials have been in contact with various zoos in accordance with Species Survival Plan Programs, which track species to maximize genetic diversity, among other conservation goals.

"We certainly love tigers, and we feel strongly about (them)," Taylor said. "So our intent, at this point, is another big cat, and likely a tiger.

"We do have (a tiger) on our sign out front, so that's a little bit of motivation to find a tiger. So that's what we're going to try for."