The royal Bengal tiger family at the Bengal Safari Park in Siliguri welcomed a new member which was delivered by Kika last week.

The park run by the Bengal forest department has 11 tigers now.

“Kika, the white tigress, gave birth to two cubs in its enclosure on July 12. However, only one survived,” the park’s director, Kamal Sarkar, said on Monday.

“We have quarantined the newborn and its mother inside a separate shelter. Their movements are being monitored round the clock by vets and zookeepers through CCTV cameras installed at the shelter. Nobody is allowed to go near the mother and the cub,” he added.

Sarkar said the tigress and its newborn would be kept in a separate enclosure for at least three months. There are plans to release them in the open enclosure for visitors in October, that is, during the festive season.

Although Kika is the only white tiger in the open-air zoological park, the newborn has normal features of a royal Bengal tiger with yellow and black stripes.

Located in the northwest outskirts of Siliguri, the park is a one-of-its-kind facility in the state where visitors can watch wild animals in open enclosures.

The park authorities said they had noticed some physical changes in Rika, another female tiger. “Rika has also been kept in a separate enclosure. We are yet to confirm its pregnancy but are taking all precautionary measures for its health,” said a source.

In 2019, tigress Shila had given birth to triplets at the park. Rika and Kika are two of them.

With two tigresses and a cub being secluded, Shila and seven other big cats are there for public viewing.

“The captive breeding of tigers has turned out to be a success here. We hope the increase in the number of tigers will draw more visitors to the park,” said a senior officer of the forest department.