It was a delightful scene at the Delhi Zoo as two eight-month-old cubs of a white tiger were released for public viewing amid cheers from school students and a small delegation of tourists
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav released eight-month-old female and male cubs named Avani (earth) and Vyom (universe), respectively born to white tigress Sita and white tiger Vijay-1. The cubs were released after receiving the last set of their vaccines
Both Avani and Vyom are being allowed to acclimatise to their new surroundings and hence the Delhi Zoo was closed today. From next week, the cubs will be allowed for public viewing only on the weekdays, when the crowd will be lesser as compared to the weekends
On their first viewing day, the cubs were mostly hanging around their mother, however, after a few hours, they became more confident and started moving around. The cubs were then taken back to their resting area
Union Minister for Environment, Forest, Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav cycled across the Delhi Zoo to promote sustainable living as part of Mission LIFE
Tigress Sita, who has been residing in Delhi Zoo with her male partner white tiger Vijay-1, gave birth to three tiger cubs in August 2022. They were kept under surveillance, away from the public eye in order to ensure their good health. This was the first instance of the successful breeding of white tigers in Delhi Zoo in seven years
As of now, there are nine tigers at the zoo, i.e. four Royal Big cats and five are white, including the two cubs that have been released for viewing. These tigers are white in colour owing to the lack of the pigment pheomelanin in their bodies, which is found in Royal Bengal tigers and that makes their fur orange
Director General of Forest and Special Secretary, Union Environment Ministry, Chandra Prakash Goyal, ADG (Forest Conservation), Satya Prakash Yadav, ADG (Wildlife), Bivash Ranjan, Member Secretary, Central Zoo Authority, Dr Sanjay Kumar Shukla, and IG Wildlife Rohit Tiwari among others were also present on the occasion
The two White Tiger cubs, Avani and Vyom, have been released in the zoo with the aim to increase the population of their breed