The four-year-old Malayan tigress "Thaya" had to be unexpectedly put down on the afternoon of 30 July 2015. Due to the remarkable enlarging of her belly, Thaya had to be rushed to the small-animal clinic of the Free University of Berlin in the morning, where an inoperable abscess was found.
The first x-ray and computed tomographic scans as well as subsequent puncturing initially uncovered a suspected benign tumour of the fatty tissue (lipom). This prompted Prof. Dr. Leo Brunnberg, head of the small-animal clinic and supervisory board member of Zoo Berlin, to subject Thaya to an abdominal operation – but the supposedly benign tumor turned out to be an infected abscess.
The massive accumulation of pus in the abdominal cavity as well as the inoperable state of the abscess led to the decision that tiger girl Thaya shouldn't be woken up from the anesthesia. Studies are currently being carried out for the Institute of Veterinary Pathology of the Freie Universität Berlin to determine the cause of the illness and the pathogen.
Thaya (born 10.08.2011) moved from the Tierpark to the Zoo in November 2012 and lived here together with tigers Mandalay and Salween. Due to the upcoming conversions in the Predator House, both animals moved to France in May 2015: Mandalay in the zoo in Mervent, Salween to Nesles.
Zoo Berlin plans to maintain a population of Amur tigers again from 2017, when renovation of the Predator House is expected to be complete.
