The tiger habitat at Springfield’s Dickerson Park Zoo will now be known as the Mizzou Tiger Reserve, in honor of a program started by MU students to protect the big cats in the wild.
The naming ceremony for the habitat, which is home to a pair of Malayan tigers named Jalil and Petra, was part of a Mizzou Update for alumni and friends of MU on Aug. 24 in Springfield.
Mizzou Tigers for Tigers, the university’s mascot conservation program, dates to 1998. By generating support for Missouri’s own zoo tigers, student leaders seek to raise awareness on behalf of wild tiger preservation around the world.