ZOOKEEPERS have expressed their grief after the death of one of their new-born tiger cubs.
Ashme, one of three female Sumatran cubs born 12 weeks ago, died at Chester Zoo yesterday afternoon after a short illness.
Her two siblings, Nila and Tila, and her mum Kirana, have now been taken off-show due to maintenance work being carried out in their enclosure.
A zoo spokesman said: “This time is also being used to give the 12-week-old cubs their second round of vaccinations and the family will be back out again later this week once work is complete.
“Both Nila and Tila seem in good health. Our sympathies are with the carnivore and veterinary teams.”
The cubs were born at the conservation charity on October 21 and are the offspring of mother Kirana and father Fabi.
In June, Kirana lost her first baby cub when it was 11-weeks old. It was the zoo's first tiger cub in more than two decades.
There are only about 400 Sumatran tigers thought to be left in the wild, where they poachers trap and kill them for use in traditional medicine.
Sumatran tigers are the smallest of their species and are native to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra. A pregnancy usually lasts about 105 days.