Posted Dec. 31, 2008, 3 a.m. EST
The tigers at the Jawalakhel zoo in Kathmandu, Nepal, miss one day of meals each week as part of a plan to help them lose weight. One of the three Royal Bengal tigers at the zoo now weighs in at about 485 pounds, having gained about 80 pounds on a diet of buffalo meat in the past eight months, Reuters reports.
After consulting with other foreign zoos that enforce tight feeding schedules for the endangered animals, zoo authorities decided to restrict the animals’ diets by feeding them only six days each week. “We don’t give the tigers anything to eat on Saturdays except water,” said zoo official Binad Karmacharya. “The practice of feeding tigers for six days a week is good for their health.”
Only about 4,000 tigers exist in the wild worldwide, according to 2008 estimates from the World Wildlife Fund