appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Associated Press

The world’s most endangered tigers have started a family in Greece, offering hope for a predator rapidly vanishing from the wild.
Three two-month-old Sumatran tiger cubs received identification microchips and their first vaccinations on Tuesday at a zoo near Athens, as part of a global effort to build a backup population.
The Sumatran tiger, classified as critically endangered, is found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, which is slightly larger than Sweden.
As few as 400 are believed to remain in the wild, mainly because of aggressive forest clearing. It joins the South China tiger and the Malayan tiger in the category of severe risk.

“The Sumatran tiger is one of the most threatened tiger species in the world, and among felines in general,” said Theodoros Babilis, head keeper of cats and monkeys at Attica Zoological Park.
Zoos in Europe and elsewhere were maintaining a safety population, he said, “so that in the future there can be potential reintroductions of this species into the wild”.
The Sumatran tiger is the smallest tiger species in the world, but males can still grow up to 2.55 metres (8.4 feet) long and weigh as much as 140kg (309 pounds).
Skilled swimmers and climbers, they use their dark stripes – unique to each animal, like a fingerprint – to hide in the dense forest as they hunt deer, wild pigs and smaller mammals.
Even at two months old, Babilis said, the cubs had already developed sharp claws and teeth that made handling them a challenge.
The cubs were born in early July to Toba, their mother, and Argos, their father, who has since died of cancer.
The surviving cubs are expected to take names from characters in Homer’s The Odyssey, according to zoo staff.

Two males and one female, the cubs were restless during Tuesday’s vaccination. Veterinary staff needed help to complete the procedure, ferrying the animals back and forth in carriers on electric buggies.
Caring for the animals is demanding work, according to Dr Arsenoi Psaroudaki, a zoo and wildlife veterinarian.
“The tigers don’t like to be handled. They’re very wild,” she said, explaining that staff had to work quickly to limit stress.
The cubs received microchips logged in a shared database, plus a vaccine similar to one commonly given to cats that protects against three diseases.
For Psaroudaki, the work is also rewarding because it offers “some hope for safeguarding these really rare cats”.
She added: “It’s very humbling to be able to work with the rarest tiger species in the world.”


Poland and Ukraine denounce train strike on route used by foreign dignitaries

Carney explores EU ‘associate member’ status for Canada as US ties fray

French must come first, Le Pen declares at 2027 campaign launch

Bulgaria probes explosion at weapon storage site

European Union

Endangered Sumatran tigers born in Greece as zoos build safety net

A two-month-old female Sumatran tiger cub growls after its first vaccination and microchipping at Attica Zoological Park near Athens, Greece, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Veterinarian Arsinoi Psaroudaki (right) administers the first vaccination to a Sumatran tiger cub as big cats keeper Myrto Mikrogeorgiou assists at Attica Zoological Park in Spata, Greece, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Toba, the mother of the three newborn Sumatran tiger cubs, walks in her enclosure with two of her cubs at Attica Zoological Park in Spata, near Athens, Greece, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Toba, the mother of the three newborn Sumatran tiger cubs, stands near her three cubs as they play in their enclosure at Attica Zoological Park in Spata, near Athens, Greece, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Veterinarian Arsinoi Psaroudaki (right) implants a microchip in a Sumatran tiger cub as Antonis Balas, a mammal curator, assists at Attica Zoological Park in Spata, Greece, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Two male two-month-old Sumatran tiger cubs receive their first vaccination and are microchipped at Attica Zoological Park near Athens, Greece, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

2 pilots killed after Greek air force plane crashes at annual air show

Black smoke from a fire at the area where an F-4 Phantom fighter jet crashed during the Athens Flying Week airshow in Tanagra, Greece on Saturday. Photo: EPA

4 Greek MPs charged over multimillion EU farm fraud scandal

A farmer lets his sheep out from the pen on the island of Astypalaia, Greece, on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Greek farmers protest in front of parliament in Athens to demand financial help from the government as cost of living spikes on February 20, 2024. Photo: AP

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (right) shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a joint press conference in Athens on November 16, 2025. Photo: EPA

In Greece, ‘crisis’ goat plague scares farmers still reeling from historic floods

A woman pets a goat at a beach on Amorgos island in Greece. Photo: EPA-EFE

A shepherd moves his sheep in the village of Karousades in northwestern Greece. Goat plague was detected last month for the first time in Greece. Photo: AP

A famer milks a sheep in the yard of his farm in the Greek village of Stafania. Photo: Reuters

1 dead in suspected Indonesia tiger attack, hunt ongoing

A Sumatran tiger. The big cats, a critically endangered species, are often targeted by poachers for their body parts. Photo: Shutterstock

A female Sumatran tiger in Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia. In February, at least four farmers in Aceh were attacked by Sumatran tigers in two separate incidents. Photo: Shutterstock

News

World

Europe

Three two-month-old Sumatran tiger cubs receive identification microchips and their first vaccinations at a zoo near Athens


Three two-month-old Sumatran tiger cubs receive identification microchips and their first vaccinations at a zoo near Athens.


Animals

Conservation

Greece

Indonesia

Endangered Sumatran tigers born in Greece as zoos build safety net

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Three two-month-old Sumatran tiger cubs receive identification microchips and their first vaccinations at a zoo near Athens

Three two-month-old Sumatran tiger cubs receive identification microchips and their first vaccinations at a zoo near Athens