Baby Bengal Tigers – Saskatoon Zoo

SASKATOON – Two furry bundles of joy have arrived at Saskatoon’s zoo.

“It’s not everyday that you get to help raise a Bengal tiger,” said a smiling Noreen Bomersbach, one of the zoo keepers who’s helping to care for the newborns at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo.

As the white cubs with black and grey stripes played under trees Friday, zoo keepers were sounding like proud parents.

“They are right on schedule in terms of development,” said John Moran, zoo manager.

“They’re perfect. You couldn’t ask for better cubs. We are starting to get tired though.”

Jasmine and her brother, Jafarh, were born 36 days ago to Rani, a tigress on loan from an Ontario zoo. She and her mate, Rajah, are from the same zoo and have been in Saskatoon since April 2007.

Weighing just over a kilogram at birth, the twins have more than tripled in size. But they struggled at first and had to be taken from their mother because they weren’t gaining weight.

“She just didn’t have milk. She cared for them, cleaned them. She did everything she should have done,” said Moran.

Now, the cubs are developing distinct personalities.

“She can be cranky and a little more demanding than him. When she want to be fed, she definitely lets you know by almost screaming,” said Bomersbach.

“But, being a male tiger, Jafarh has attitude.”

White Bengal tigers are rare. Moran knows of only three zoos in Canada that display the animals.

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