In Colorado Springs, 2-year-old tiger Mila went under for a “severe” dental issue when a normal procedure turned fatal in a freak accident.
After being given an anesthesia injection, Mila was said to have jumped on the bench and then fell asleep one minute after the injection. Once she fell asleep, she fell off the bench causing a fatal spinal injury.
“She was making such great progress with us,” said Rebecca Zwicker, animal care manager in Asian Highlands at CMZoo in a post shared to the CMZ Facebook page.
Mila was moved to the zoo in March of this year and was “ready for her own space” says the facility. Before arriving at her new home, she was living in the Toronto zoo with her mother.
“She was a feisty and intelligent tiger, and the team had been patiently and consistently training with her to help her settle in and feel comfortable in indoor and outdoor spaces behind the scenes. She was getting so close to being out where guests could see her. We were excited to introduce her to our community and for people to fall in love with her here, just as they had in Toronto.”
In a lengthy Faceebook post dedicated to t he love of Mila, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo gives a play-by-play of what happened and what steps were taken in attempts to save Mila.
“We feel a huge responsibility for all of the animals in our care, and we especially feel for Mila, her current and past caretakers and the people in Toronto who loved her from her birth as the only survivor in her litter,” said Chastain. “Not only was she an internationally beloved individual who defied the odds as a cub and survived to adulthood, but she was here on a mission to save her own species.”
