The Delhi Zoo’s recent triumph over the birth of six white tiger cubs turned to tragedy as five of the six cubs died within a week of their birth and the sixth is battling for life there.
There was a big question mark on the survival of the sextuplets right from the beginning as their mother Kalpana, a six-year-old white tigress who had given birth for the first time on January 21, was unable to look after them.
Kalpana had created history when she gave birth to six cubs, making it the maiden sextuplet pregnancy in an Asian zoo.
Though the condition of the lone surviving cub is critical, Delhi Zoo officials haven’t given up. They have admitted the cub to the zoo’s hospital where veterinarians have arranged a goat and a bitch to feed it.
“It is extremely sad that out of the six cubs, only one is left. The cause of death was basically the mother’s inability to feed them. Giving birth to six cubs in one pregnancy is extremely rare. She was not able to feed so many cubs. A mother’s warmth is extremely essential for the growth of offspring and she was not providing it to them,” said RA Khan, curator of Delhi Zoo.
One of the sextuplets had died just hours after birth. If that was not enough, tragedy struck when three of the cubs passed away on the morning of January 24. Out of the remaining two, one was healthy while the other suffered respiratory problems coupled with lack of mother’s milk. “After the four cubs expired, the two remaining cubs were shifted to the intensive observation unit in the zoo hospital. One succumbed to her ailments on Friday, but the other one is still alive but in a critical state,” he added.
The seven-day-old cub is frail and susceptible to infections, said zoo officials. Bereft of mother’s milk, the cub is being fed with the milk of other animals. But, any substitute to the cub’s diet comes at its own risk as doctors fear it may lead to diarrhoea.
“Milk is being provided to the cub after every five hours. The thickness of the milk is very important and has to be apt. If the milk is very thick we dilute it with water and medicines. Doctors are deputed to keep a round-the-clock vigil. By any chance, if the cub suffers from diarrhoea, then it may be life threatening as its internal system and immunity is still not fully developed,” Khan said. It takes over two weeks for the cubs to even open their eyes after birth, so, the first month is extremely critical, he added.
In 2006, another white tigress had given birth to five cubs. Four out of the five survived and are healthy adults now, while one died. “That cub died as he was crushed under the weight of two of his siblings,” recalled Khan. The zoo currently has six white tigers, out of which two are males and the rest are females.