One of two cubs born to tigress ‘Ankita’ dies in Nandankanan Zoo

Bhubaneswar: The delight of welcoming two new tiger cubs could not last more than a few hours with one of the two cubs born to tigress Ankita dying on Saturday evening here at the Nandankanan Zoological Park.

Sources from the zoo informed that one of the two cubs born to Tigress ‘Ankita' and tiger Saif on late on Friday night died later on Saturday.

The mother tigress has also separated the other living cub from itself thus forcing the authorities to take the baby into their own care and spoon-feed it.

Meanwhile, the zoo authorities are also trying to ascertain the exact cause and under what circumstances did the cub die.

Both the cubs were born to Tiger Saif and Tigress Ankita who became the mother for the first time. Ankita, the daughter of white tiger Rishi and tigress Sara, was born in 2012.

With the death of one of the cub the number of tiger population at the zoo has reached 25 which include eight white tigers and  two melanistic male ones.