ZooMontana mourns the loss today of their Amur tiger Prince. According to statements made to the Billings Gazette by Jeff Ewelt, it is very likely that Prince died from complications due to bone cancer.

Jeff Ewelt told the Gazette that they had noticed Prince limping and after medication had failed to alleviate the problem they chose to put him under anesthesia. When the results of the x-ray came back they had found that the tiger's body was suffering from severe bone cancer. When they tried to bring Prince out of from the anesthesia he developed breathing problems and quickly passed away.

"The cancer had literally riddled those lungs of his and we think that's why he had trouble breathing," Ewelt said.

The Gazette reports that Prince has been with ZooMontana since February of 2004 after another male Siberian tiger was sent to a St. Louis zoo as part of a breeding program.

VIA: The Billings Gazette

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