White tigress gives birth to two cubs, Punjab’s Zirakpur zoo celebrates

It was celebration time at the Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park or the Chhat Bir Zoo as it is popularly known. The reason being Gauri, the white tigress of this Zoo which is located near Zirakpur in Punjab, delivered two cubs along with four stillborn.

She was paired with the Zoo’s Royal Bengal tiger.

The news was greeted with cheer as the Zoo staff and management had been working very hard to get the two to mate. Gauri delivered the cubs on August 2.

With a view not to disturb the mother and cubs they have been housed in a special enclosure where no one is allowed to enter, including the zoo keepers.

The staff is constantly monitoring through CCTV the mother and cubs and they have been reported to be in good health.

Sharing details with the media, an official said Gauri has delivered cubs after April 2020. That time she had delivered a single cub which could not survive and had died merely six days after its birth. She had been paired with another tiger named Luksh that time.

For the Royal Bengal tiger Arjun too, it was a special occasion as he has been paired for the first time and become a proud parent.

While Gauri had arrived in Chhat Bir Zoo at the age of four from Pradhyuman Zoological Park, Rajkot, in 2019, Arjun was born from the pairing of Royal Bengal Tiger, Aman, and white tigress, Diya, at Chhat Bir Zoo in 2019.

Kalapna K, Indian Forest Service officer and Director of the Zoo praised the efforts of the zoo management, keepers, veterinarians and biologists who had been working very hard since April 2023. She informed that the Zoo had made all arrangements for prenatal, neonatal and post-natal care.

The mother and cubs will remain quarantined as per protocols and kept under critical care management with proper bedding arrangements and supplements and in strict isolation to create the best possible and infection-free environment for the next three months.