A SUMATRAN tiger cub has been born at a Ryedale zoo.

The new arrival made its appearance on Friday at 6.01pm at Flamingo Land Resort Yorkshire.

It is culmination of seven years of work by the animal carers at the zoo in their attempts to protect the critically endangered species.

Three years ago the same breeding pair Bawa and Surya produced triplets which have now gone onto other collections to start their own families.

There are as little as 300 Sumatran Tigers left in the wild so Flamingo Land has increased the world population levels of this magnificent species by 1.3 per cent.

Ross Snipp, zoo manager, said: “Although it is early days for our tiger cub, it looks to be very strong and we are very hopeful that this continues.

"Around a month ago our zoo and vet team believe that she had miscarried so we were all amazed to find the little cub with its parents on Friday Evening.

"We would not normally make this announcement so early but we are so proud of our work in this particular field that we wanted to give as many children as possible the chance to see him or her before the schools go back.”

Currently mum and baby can be viewed via live direct link to the special cubbing den at the tiger exhibit. As yet the sex of the cub remains unknown.

Gordon Gibb, owner of Flamingo Land, said: “Conservation is our passion and the survival of the Sumatran Tigers is one of our key missions.

"Together with our achievements in the field through our Udzungwa Forest Project in Tanzania we are at the forefront of International Strategic Conservation. We are extremely proud of our efforts.”