The John Ball Zoo Said Goodbye to A Longtime Friend Over the Weekend

If you grew up on the Disney classic The Lion King like I did, you're probably familiar with the circle of life.

via GIPHY

And while that movie is just a cartoon, the circle of life really does follow us in real life and the John Ball Zoo has had to see a circle come to a close this weekend.

According to a statement from the John Ball Zoo, their 18-year-old female Amur tiger, Nika had to be euthanized over the weekend after a spending nearly a decade of her life teaching others in Grand Rapids.

On a facebook post, they shared:

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our 18-year-old female Amur tiger, Nika. Our animal care team made the very difficult decision to humanely euthanize Nika... In recent years, her caretakers began noticing changes in her movement. As with many of us as we age, Nika had developed arthritis. While treatments initially helped keep Nika comfortable, she showed signs of significant aging and decline in recent weeks. After a full examination by veterinary staff on June 8, the team evaluated her overall quality of life and made the difficult decision to euthanize Nika.

Nika first arrived at John Ball Zoo back in May 2014 and was the first tiger to move into the Tigers of the Realm habitat when it opened, where she has brought joy to kids and families in Grand Rapids since.

@birdautismma #fyp #foryou #enjoy #amurtiger #myfavorite #tiger #tigersoftiktok #johnballzoo #grandrapidsmichigan #nika #nikathetiger #16years ♬ Alice in Wonderland - Joanna Wang

While we can be sad about the passing of Nika, the average Amur tiger lives between 14 and 16 years, so she was able to have a few more thanks to the caring staff at the John Ball Zoo.

We're thinking of them during this difficult time.