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On a mutton and chicken diet, Chhatbir zoo’s white tigress Diya is being a perfect mom
Diya has taken well to the cubs, says a senior zoo official monitoring the animals through CCTV camera.
Fortified with mutton soup and chicken, white tigress Diya, who gave birth to four cubs at the Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park in Chhatbir on Sunday, is being the “prefect mother,” say relieved zoo officials who were earlier uncertain about how she would behave with her young.
Diya, who was shown videos of tiger cubs through a monitor in her enclosure to hone her maternal instincts before the cubs were born, “has taken well to the cubs,” said a senior zoo official monitoring the animals through CCTV.
“She has started feeding the cubs on her own without any human intervention, which is a really good sign,” he added.
For the next 10 days the tigress and her cubs, born 102 days after Diya was paired with Royal Bengal tiger Aman, will be kept in isolation and monitored constantly to ensure the survival of the little ones.
As for visitors, patience needs to be exercised as the cubs won’t be displayed for at least three months. Tiger cubs usually open their eyes in about seven to 10 days.
Even Aman will be kept away from his new family for a month as male tigers are known to attack their young.
“Diya has started feeding the cubs. She and the cubs will be in isolation for next three months,” said M Sudhagar, zoo director.
As for the zoo staff, this is a time for celebrations as tigers have been bred successfully over here after a gap of six years. “The cubs will be monitored for about 10 days and named only after that,” said a zoo official.
However, many of the zoo employees had already started hunting for names, he added.
Fed mutton soup in the morning and evening with chicken reserved for daytime meals, Diya is also being administered supplements and medicines.
Born in Chhatbir Zoo in 2013 to a tigress named Dolly, Diya has two siblings.Lakshya also lives in Chhatbir, while the other one has been moved to another zoo.
Aman was born in 2012 and was acquired from Khanpur Zoo in Delhi in 2013.
The two were paired and released in the same public display enclosure in January 2016.
During his visit to the zoo in January 2019, former Punjab tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu had announced his decision to adopt the tiger pair.
