Gut Aiderbichl's tigers Sandy, Floy, Tango, Roxy and Sonja

Our majesties purr a little louder than the usual domestic cats

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The Bengal tiger is massively threatened with extinction. The tigers are poached even in designated protected areas and are increasingly losing their natural habitat to humans.
Our Bengal tigers are descended from a line of tigers that have been born in circuses for many generations and are used to humans. Sandy (17 years), Floy (17 years), Tango (13 years), Roxy (9 years) and Sonja (9 years) were hand-reared by their trainer Markus and belonged to the Moscow Circus. Because of its name, the circus became a victim of the Russia-Ukraine war and visitors stayed away. The coronavirus outbreak meant that no performances were allowed – a difficult time began and the tamer set about looking for a place for his tigers. It was important to him that the big cats were kept in a place where he could visit them and maintain contact with them. Releasing the five big cats back into the wild would have meant certain death for them.

An endangered species of the Bengal tiger

In his distress, Markus turned to Gut Aiderbichl. Time was of the essence, as many European countries had already banned wild animals in circuses. Dieter Ehrengruber said “Many endangered animal species already live on the more than 30 Gut Aiderbichl estates in six different European countries. Even if the tigers may seem rather unusual for Gut Aiderbichl, every animal deserves our protection”.

September 2024 - Opening of the tiger enclosure at Liska Animal Zoo

The atmosphere was more than moving when the tigers walked from the circus cage into the new, spacious tiger enclosure, completely relaxed and in single file with their trainer. The five majesties immediately let us know that they felt at home.
An appropriate tiger enclosure must fulfil the needs of the big cats and require plenty of space. They must be able to fulfil their natural urge to move and offer sufficient opportunities to retreat.
Strict security systems and trained staff will monitor the lives of our large predators in future. A vet and trained animal keepers from Gut Aiderbichl will be working on site with the tigers.

Dieter Ehrengruber was beaming with joy with his new protégés – who would have thought that the move into the enclosure would go so smoothly? Moved, he said: “The situation of tigers in their countries of origin, but also in Europe, is often dramatic. We want to give the tigers a voice and keep reminding people that the problem of tigers is man-made and it is our responsibility to solve it.”