Endangered big cats are roaring their way to Pembrokeshire.

A pair of breeding Sumatran tigers are coming to Manor House Wildlife Park this summer, it is announced this week.

And it is hoped that if the duo hit it off, the park could one day hear the pattering of tiny tiger feet.

Television personality Anna Ryder Richardson, who bought the park with her husband Colin MacDougall in 2008, admitted she ‘cried with joy’ when she heard from the Zoological Society of London that she had been allocated the pair of tigers.

Said Anna: “It’s a very proud moment for us all at the park, great for our loyal visitors, tourists and an honour for Wales. Toger, we can all be a part of tiger conservation.”

There are actually more tigers in captivity in the world than in the wild. Less than 3,200 of the beautiful creatures currently roam free, while in the USA, 5,000 tigers are, sadly, kept privately in people’s gardens and even inside their home.

The new arrivals to the conservation led attraction, known as Anna’ Welsh Zoo, will arrive at the park separately and be introduced to each other through the safety of a fence.

The pair will only be allowed to meet each other properly once their keepers and vets are satisfied that there are no signs of aggression to each other.

The zoo is already part of another endangered breeding programme for the Southern White Rhino, and is home to three young males including Zamba, the first baby rhino in the UK - and only the second in the world - to be bred from artificial insemination.

Animal welfare scienttist Dr Jake Veasey, who designed the zoo's rhino enclosure and the lemur walkthrough enclosure, is managing the preparation for the tigers’ new environment.

He said: “Sumatran tigerts are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, but hopefully, with patience, beautiful surroundings and their health a priority, there could be the purring of tiger cubs in the very near future.”