Diya, her cubs are fit & fine, say Chhatbir zoo officials

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 21

After death of a cub of the white tigress, Diya, the zoo authorities have been keeping a close watch on health of the mother and her remaining three cubs at Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park, popularly known as Chhatbir Zoo, here.

Apart from keeping regular checks on feeding Diya and her three cubs, the animals have been put in controlled temperature enclosure.

According to the zoo authorities, the temperature of their enclosure is being monitored after every four hours. “The temperature of the enclosure is being maintained at 25°C. Heaters have been installed in the enclosure for the purpose,” said the authorities, which maintained that the mother and the cubs were fit and fine.

“The cubs, whose eyes are yet to open, are fully dependent on mother’s milk. Their mother Diya is being fed soup and chicken diet. Currently her intake is around 2 kg diet, which needs to touch the figure of 7 kg,” the authorities added while maintaining that the intake of feed of Diya was improving with each passing of day.

“It’s a good sign as feeding also improves production of mother’s milk,” said the zoo authorities.

According to zoo officials, the cub, who died on Wednesday, was in fact rejected by Diya immediately after its birth. “The cub was the first one delivered by Diya, but it was rejected by mother,” the zoo authorities added.

“Diya has delivered four cubs, which is considered very high number. Rejection of one or two cubs is very common among carnivorous,” officials said.

“Every movement of Diya and her cubs is being monitored by the zoo authorities manually and through the CCTV cameras. All four are fine. Now, we are waiting for cubs to open their eyes,” said a zookeeper.