Tigress Anushka gave birth to a litter of three cubs at Bhagwan Birsa Munda Biological Park near Ormanjhi in Ranchi on Saturday morning, bringing cheer to the zoo at a time the headlines are all about disease and death.
“It's indeed a good news at this stage,” said Jharkhand's chief wildlife warden P.K. Verma who gave the information after observing the tigress and her cubs for three days.
Anushka and all her cubs are healthy and doing fine, he said, adding she brought the cubs outside the cage on her own and was also feeding them.
'It's the second litter of the eight-year old tigress since March 2018 when she had given birth to three cubs, two of which survived,” Verma said.
“Breeding in captivity itself is a rare phenomenon,” he said, adding that the zoo also had some favourable conditions for that.
The Ranchi zoo has more spacious enclosures for tigers than many other zoos in the country and the circulating areas outside the tigers' cages have also been increased last year, he informed when asked to elaborate.
Besides, the zoo has a natural sal grove that makes the animals comfortable, he added.”
At the Bronx zoo in New York, a tiger had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Asked if any specific precautions were required to be taken in view of the pandemic, Verma said: “We have been taking precautionary measures though there's no such threat.
“The zoo is located far off from the city, no visitor is being allowed during the lockdown and sanitising is also being done there regularly.”
The Ranchi zoo has three tigers and four tigresses.
Asked about the gender of the cubs, Birsa zoo vet Dr Ajay Kumar said: “It's too early to say that as we can't go near them.”
Tigresses are very possessive of their cubs and it's very dangerous to go near Anushka now, the vet said.
Only the keeper goes near the enclosure to offer her food.
“But the tigress looks quite healthy and she has been feeding the cubs,” Dr Kumar said, adding that those were indications that the mother and her cubs were healthy and doing fine.
