From ‘Kopi Peng’ to ‘Tuah’: Malaysians flood Zoo Melaka contest to name panther cub, submission form closes early

MELAKA, July 4 — A Zoo Melaka contest that invited the public to name a black panther cub has seemingly closed ahead of schedule, after drawing thousands of submissions.

The competition, which was scheduled to run from July 1 to July 25, aimed to name a male cub born at the zoo on February 24, 2025.

At the time of writing, the submission form says that it is “no longer accepting responses.”

New Straits Times (NST) today reported that the zoo had received over 20,000 submissions.

With the submission form no longer active, netizens have taken to the zoo’s Instagram and Facebook pages to post their name suggestions in the comments.

Among them were “Kopi Peng (Iced Coffee)”, “Si Dakwat (Ink)” and “Tuah” — a nod to the popular Melaka folklore character Hang Tuah.

The cub is part of ongoing efforts to raise awareness about local wildlife conservation and the captive breeding of the endangered Malayan panther.

According to the NST report, Zoo Melaka director Zahidah Izzati Zeid said the naming contest was designed to engage the public and raise awareness of the zoo’s conservation work.

“By giving the public the opportunity to name the Malayan panther cub, we hope to garner public interest and create awareness on the success of our captive breeding initiatives of local wild Malaysian species,” she was quoted as saying.