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With the birth of these cubs, the number of white tigers in the zoo located in Bhilai city, about 35km away from state capital Raipur, has gone up to 10, they said.
The nine-year-old white tigress, named Roma, delivered two male cubs on September 8 last year, but the news of their birth was disclosed only on Thursday, said NK Jain, in-charge of the zoo.
Born with white-coloured fur and blue eyes, these cubs are nearly four months old now and will be put in a big enclosure for public viewing in the zoo from Friday (January 5), he said.
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Another white tigress, Raksha, gave birth to three cubs on April 28 last year and they were named Rustam, Rana and Bobby, said Jain, who is also Deputy General Manager of BSP’s horticulture-TSD.
“Tigresses are overly cautious and secretive while caring for young cubs. As per veterinary medical procedures, the newly born cubs are kept in the dark room along with the mother under special care of experts for supervision of breastfeeding and other vital health parameters,” Jain explained.
“Till now the tigress Roma and her cubs have been kept in an enclosure with controlled lighting to create a cave-like ambience. The mother tigress spends most of her time nursing the litter. In view of this, the news of the birth of tiger cubs was not made public during the first four months,” he said.
With sincere conservation efforts of the Bhilai Steel Plant management, Maitri Bagh has become one of the top zoos in India housing the highest number of white tigers, Jain said. In 1997, a white tiger and tigress — Tarun and Tapsi — were shifted to the Bhilai city zoo from the Nandan Kanan Zoo of neighbouring Odisha.
The tigress gave birth to four cubs in 1999, he said. The zoo management, that has bred over 12 white tigers in the past, has provided such big cats to more than five zoos in the country, he added.
Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) is a flagship unit of the country’s largest steel maker Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).