Connie Jansen couldn’t help but notice the tiger at Atascadero’s Central Coast Zoo.
For 45 minutes this past summer, she said she watched him pace in his enclosure and cry out. She questioned whether he was severely depressed.
“I just don’t know that he was getting the care he needed,” Jansen said.
Jansen wasn’t the only zoo visitor who expressed concern over the Malayan tiger named Menderu at the Central Coast Zoo. Formerly known as the Charles Paddock Zoo, the facility spent 16 years caring for the tiger before he passed in July.
Social media posts dating back to 2022 expressed concern for the animal’s well-being. For instance, on the Everything Atascadero Facebook page, someone asked why their child might have said the zoo was depressing.
Another replied, “I’m guessing the tiger in the 8-by-10 cell … there’s very little space for the animals.”
Central Coast Zoo Director Dr. Cynthia Stringfield said it was a sad day when Menderu died of cancer at the age of 17.
“He was only sick for about two weeks. He did not give us much notice that he was not doing well because before that, everybody would just rave, including myself, as a veterinarian, about how amazing he looked for his age. He did not look his age. He did not act his age,” she said. “But he did live a really long, wonderful life at our zoo.”
Stringfield’s aware of concerns about the tiger’s well-being but said they are misinterpretations.
She received questions about him being alone in his enclosure.
“Tigers are solitary in the wild. They don’t live in a group. A lot of times people get them mixed up with lions, I think, which are social,” Stringfield said. “[Tigers] are extremely dangerous and aggressive, not only to other males, but sometimes to the females even. … He would probably have killed them because they are super territorial.”
And being territorial was why Menderu would seemingly cry, Stringfield said.
“That crying was actually calling, and that is very normal. In fact, his name in the Malaysian language referred to that. He was a very vocal tiger. He’s the most vocal tiger I’ve ever known,” she said. “But he was calling about his territory so any other male tiger in Atascadero that could hear that would know that, ‘Oh, that’s Menderu’s territory.’”
The Central Coast Zoo is one of 251 zoos in the world that are part of a tiger “species survival program,” which accredits it to care for species like Malayan tigers that are critically endangered.
With this designation, the zoo is held to strict regulations, and while the Central Coast Zoo’s tiger enclosure does meet these requirements, Stringfield said the zoo is now working on expanding the enclosure for its next tiger.
“We wanted the next tiger to be able to have more room, because they most likely are going to be a lot younger,” she said. “More space is always good. It might [currently] meet minimum requirements, but the goal is for them to even have more room and have more things to do and a more complex environment.”
Stringfield said that more information about the expansion will be announced in the next couple of months. ∆
This article appears in Oct 2 – 12, 2025.
Thru my life of 60 some years.. I’ve left my feelings ( which are the realities of Zoo life and Captivity of the Animals plus forced breeding ,) on the ” back burner”… But it tears me up to see these Souls dragged from their Homelands; forests.. jungles.. the deep Ocean just to be put on display for mere humans entertainment. And now to learn of improper care..diet . companionship and lack of intelligent stimulation. And it’s gone on forever with circuses, small local aquariums.
I’m just now learning about the two Pandas at the Memphis zoo. How tragically cruel !! And how zoo staffs lie and make excuses for what is obvious to the more enlightened humans ‘observation. Contrary to the popular excuse that children ” learn” about Animals through the zoo experience…. If they watched documentaries or actually were to travel to the native lands of these creatures and see them in their born habitat …it would be completely different. NO Cement , for one- no metal cages..
Since most of their world has been destroyed or sacrificed because of humans overpopulation and domination . As well as quality of food ..air.. and water and just the
( unrest) state of the world as it is… I feel trying to keep these poor Creatures ” going ” let alone bringing some back from extinction will cause needless suffering just in the name of ” science ” . Humanity itself has been wrangled and is living in ( cages ) themselves , whether they realize it or not . Nine years ago I watched that poor Majestic Tiger at Atascadero Zoo pace in boredom ( where could he just run, even.. ? ) and he certainly got no joy from seeing people . It saddens me he’s now gone. Seems like a waste of Life. And cancer can develop from deep depression ,as well as improper diet..water quality. Etc. We will Never know how he felt or if he longed for his original world. ÷(_