J’lem zoo welcomes rare tiger cubs

The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo has been celebrating the birth of two tiger cubs that were born to the Sumatran tigress Chana — the day after her brother in New Zealand became the father of another two cubs.

Chana gave birth on November 17 after a successful courtship from a male tiger named Avigdor. It was her fourth litter at the zoo. Two previous sets of cubs died shortly after birth, and following her third litter in 2009, she abandoned her cub. Zookeepers managed to save the cub, and named him Sylvester. When he was a year old, Sylvester was transferred to a zoo in France.

Zoo keepers had been expecting the birth for a while, and had noticed that Chana was spending more time in her den lined with straw in preparation for the cubs.

Three tigers were born, but one was too weak to survive.

Chana has taken a keen interest in her youngsters, allowing keepers to sit back and watch via closed-circuit video cameras positioned in her den.

Avigdor is also being kept away from the new arrivals for their own safety, and the hope is that within a month they will be strong enough to venture into a small enclosed yard. If all goes well, the public will get their first view of the cubs when they are released to an open area of the tiger exhibit early next year.

The celebrations in Jerusalem came one day after Chana’s brother, Oz, saw his tigress Sali give birth to a pair of cubs at the Hamilton Zoo in New Zealand.

Oz, was sent to the zoo last year as part of an international breeding program to save the rare subspecies, less than 700 of which survive in the wild.

Oz’s two cubs, one male and one female, were also reported to be healthy.

Chana and Oz were born on the Ramat Gan Safari before being sent out to the other zoos to breed.