Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, is the most important celebration observed in China, with cultural and historic significance. Chinese New Year is an annual 15-day festival celebrated by communities all around the world and is believed to have been celebrated for over 3,500 years. The festival signals the beginning of spring, and the start of a new year according to the Chinese lunar calendar. Within the Chinese Zodiac there are 12 animals that run on a 12 year cycle. Each Spring Festival, one of the 12 animals is celebrated for the year ahead and paired with one of the five elements: water, wood, fire, earth or metal. The year of 2022 marks the year of the Tiger and specifically the year of the Water Tiger, which occurs every sixty years and will begin on the 1st of February and end on the 21st of January 2023. Tigers are a powerful and auspicious sign in the Chinese Zodiac calendar and are a sign of great strength, fearlessness, bravery and forcefulness, this year will definitely make a roar!
The animal who takes the importance of the year, can be seen to be ordained on hats and shoes and other items to bring around good luck. In various communities families will visit zoos to see the animals of the year, such as the tiger for 2022 to bring a prosperous year. Here at Paradise Wildlife Park, we have Aleena and Siberia, our two beautiful amur tigers who are ready to welcome everyone into the Year of the Tiger. With the Land of the Tigers being the only place in the UK to see Tigers in a mixed species habitat with underwater viewing, there is no better place to celebrate the Year of the Water Tiger. Come and watch Aleena and Siberia enjoy their habitat with their multiple platforms, on show den and water area. You can also choose to get up close to one of our tigers through our Feed a Big Cat Experience, where you will be able to hand feed one of our tigers and learn about their nature. This is available throughout the year and will need to be pre-booked prior to visiting us. If you cannot visit us, why not adopt one of our tigers here at Paradise and receive a personal adoption box from them, including your very own tiger plush!
Tiger numbers are declining at a rapid pace and just over a century ago, there were as many as 100,000 wild tigers living in Asia. Today, fewer than 3,900 remain. The tiger is classified into nine subspecies, three of which (Javan, Caspian, and Bali) are extinct. A fourth, the South-China subspecies, is most likely to be extinct in the wild, with no signs of its existence in the last decade. Tigers are listed as “Endangered” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The Malayan and Sumatran sub-species are currently listed as “Critically Endangered’ with numbers drasitically fallening. The Year of the Tiger brings a possibility of hope to raise awareness for the species and act as a catalyst for change that is desperately needed. It has already been seen that certain fashion houses have called for action and are donating funds to various conservation charities for Tigers and we hope to continue to see a positive movement on this. When you visit us here at Paradise, purchase our merchandise, adopt a tiger or even do our Feed a Big Cat Experience, you directly assist with the conservation and protection of tigers in their natural habitats, as well as, a variety of other species. We hope that through change and conservation Tigers will be present for many generations to come.
新年快樂
