Magda The Siberian Tiger Gives Birth To Extremely Rare White Cubs At Siġġiewi Wildlife Park
Magda, the mother tiger at Noah’s Ark in Siġġiewi, has given birth to five cubs… and three of them are as rare as they get.
The Siberian tiger gave birth to five healthy cubs following a fourth-month pregnancy. This is the second time that Magda has given birth at the zoo in two years. But three of the cubs are actually white Siberian tigers, a very rare and endangered breed.
Photos uploaded online by the park show a protective Magda breastfeeding her newborn cubs. When speaking TVM, owner Anton Cutajar expressed his content with the cubs, noting that four are of a rare colour; three white and one golden.
“Three white Siberian cubs were born this night,” Anton announced on Facebook yesterday. “God is great!”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10206642161410621&set=a.1605779962305&type=3&theater
The addition of the new cubs brings the total number of tigers at the sanctuary to 23.
The park is also home to an extremely rare and endangered White Siberian tiger, Blanca, with estimates of the remaining population at less than 20 in the world.
However, it does seem that thanks to days like this, the white Siberian tiger population might be slowly on the rise after all.
It is believed that there are only some 500 Siberian tigers left in the world, with the number of white specimen being way less than half of that number.
A super rare white Siberian tiger with barely any stripes, Blanca was born on 6th June 2017
The five cubs are currently being breastfed by their mother but, if any are reject, park owner Anton Cutajar will have to step in and bottle feed them to keep them alive.
Noah’s Ark has not been without its criticism, being targeted over the years by animal lovers, activists and shelters for various reasons, including one incident in which the owner took a young cub into a nightclub.
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