A white tigress gave birth to sextuplets at Delhi Zoo on Tuesday, making it the first such case anywhere in Asia.
“A white tigress producing six cubs in a single pregnancy is unique and it is a proud moment for Delhi Zoo. Such cases have occurred in the United Kingdom but it has never been reported from the Asiatic belt. It is big news for our zoo,” said RA Khan, zoo curator. Until Tuesday, the city zoo had witnessed the birth of a maximum of five cubs at a time, which happened in June last year, he added.
However, the zoo authorities are a worried lot right now, as being a first-time mother, the six-year-old tigress, Kalpana, is unable to feed her cubs properly. The next one week is extremely crucial for the cubs hence, right from maintaining the proper temperature needed for the survival of the cubs, to providing food, zoo officials are doing it all.
“Kalpana has given birth for the first time so she is an inexperienced mother. To add to the tension, the number of cubs is more than usual, hence, she does not know how to handle the situation. She is not being able to feed all the cubs properly and three of her cubs are not getting adequate milk,” Khan said.
Zoo officials are being extremely cautious and are treating the cubs and the mother with utmost care. “Our veterinarians are keeping a close watch on them. They are currently in what you could call an intensive care enclosure. Apart from the veterinary doctors, several zoo officials have been deployed to observe the cubs and the mother round-the-clock,” he maintained.
“We are dissolving vitamins and medicines to prevent infections, in the milk we are feeding the cubs. The area is sealed and away from public view. The cubs have to be close to her as they need the warmth of her body to grow properly and keep warm. However, she is not responding to all of them. So we are controlling the temperature of the enclosure. The cubs will open their eyes after two weeks only,” said Khan.
The zoo currently has six white tigers out of which two are males and the rest are females. The father of these cubs is seven-year-old Vijay.
last year, the zoo had lost one big cat when a white tigress died of septicaemia that she contracted soon after delivering four cubs. The eight-year-old tigress, Khushi, had given birth to two live cubs while two were stillborn and another one was stuck inside her womb, which caused the infection, leading to the death of the mother.