White tiger’s celibacy baffles Jharkhand zoo officials

Ranchi, July 23 (IANS) Zoo officials in Jharkhand’s Bokaro city are baffled by the behaviour of a white tiger, which is maintaining celibacy during the mating season.

The mating season of tigers will end soon but the white tiger at the Jawaharlal Nehru Zoological Park in Bokaro is not allowing any female to even come near him.

Zoo officials have been trying to allure the white to interact with a female but in vain.

‘When the female tiger chosen for mating is taken near the white tiger, he starts gnashing its large teeth. It also starts chewing the tail of the tigress in anger,’ said an official.

‘We are also trying to create an environment so that the tiger falls in love with the tigress,’ he added.

Despite all these efforts, the white tiger is maintaining his celibacy and becoming more aggressive towards the tigress. The zoo officials are now thinking of putting the tigress in the same cell with the white tiger.

‘We want to put them in one cell. But it could be dangerous. They can fight and may kill each other. We cannot take such risks without consulting experts. We are taking experts’ opinion on this,’ the zoo official said.

The Bokaro zoological park has three lions, four tigers and four leopards. The zoo officials are keeping a close watch on the big cats as babesiosis disease has claimed the lives of five big cats, including four tigers in Birsa Munda Zoological Park in Ranchi.

Copyright Indo-Asian News Service