Chennai: Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur officials have separated a tiger cub from the mother in the attempt to hand-rear it.
In a press release, the zoo authority on Saturday said, “Seven weeks ago, two cubs were born to tigress Uthra (5) and tiger Vijayan (7). Due to poor mothering ability, the tigress failed to feed the cubs. As a result, one cub did not survive and the other cub was separated immediately from the mother tigress in the attempt to hand rear the cub.”
The male cub was given intensive neonatal care following the Standard Operating Procedure, due to which the cub survived and is doing well. Further, the cub has started taking little quantity of chicken. The cub is maintained in an isolated sterile room, the officials said in the release.
Rearing orphaned abandoned cubs has always been a challenging task worldwide, but the zoo has hand-reared lion and tiger cubs in the earlier years, read the release, adding that the male tiger cub now weighing 5 ½ kg will be displayed for public view on completion of four months.
