The forest department is upbeat after a Royal Bengal tigress, Sheela, gave birth to triplets, a move that has also caught the fancy of wildlife lovers and enthusiasts.
The tigress has given birth to three cubs, one of which is white, at the Bengal Safari: North Bengal Wild Animal Park, near Siliguri, and officials here feel such a development may encourage them to set up a tiger breeding centre here.
“The tiger population in the country is fast dwindling, while around 30% of the existing big cats are white. So definitely it is a significant achievement. It is perhaps for the first time that a white tiger is born in captive breeding outside the Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar in Odisha,” a forester said.
The zoo there has the largest population of white tigers as compared to other zoos in the country. Two Wildcats–Snehasis and Sheela-which had been brought to the Siliguri park from the Alipore Zoological Gardens, Kolkata, on 30 December, 2016, were earlier brought to the Kolkata zoo from Nandankanan on 20 February the same year.
READ: Royal Bengal tigress gives birth in Siliguri park
The animals mated here last year. Wildlife experts said a white tiger was born as the parents carry the unusual (recessive) gene as they were bred in the Nandankanan park.
An elated forest minster, Binay Krishna Barman, said the development would draw more visitors and tourists to the park. “It is indeed good news and a great achievement. One of the cubs is white. White tiger is not very common, and we are hopeful that more tourists and visitors would come,” Mr Barman said.
Director of the park, Arun Mukherjee, said it would take some months before they would allow public viewing of the big cats. A zoo official said the first instance of captive breeding of tiger here may prompt forest department to take initiatives to set up a tiger breeding centre.
“The infrastructure here is almost ready, including treatment facilities with veterinary doctors. The forest department may think over the necessity of a tiger breeding centre here,” he said.