Two clouded leopard cubs are leaving Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium today for Florida, where zookeepers hope they will breed this spring.

Sumalee and Sabah are moving to the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Garden.

“While we’re sad to say goodbye, we’re excited that more people will have the opportunity to see these rare and beautiful cats,” general curator Karen Goodrowe Beck said Wednesday.

Sumalee is one of two clouded leopards born at Point Defiance last June. She was paired with Sabah, who came from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, when she was 3 months old.

This is the second set of clouded leopards to leave Tacoma in recent months. Two other cubs, Taji and Lisu, moved to Denver Zoo in November. Six adult clouded leopards will remain at Point Defiance, one of only three zoos in the country breeding the endangered animals.

Sumalee and Taji, her brother, were the seventh and eighth clouded leopards born in the United States last year. Staff biologists have hand-raised the cubs.

Four cats will still live in the cub den, which is a relatively new exhibit. Chai Li and Nah Fun, and Chee Wit and Jao Ying, are breeding pairs. Another pair of clouded leopards, Raja and Josie, live behind-the-scenes at the zoo.

Stacia Glenn: stacia.glenn@thenewstribune.com