Chattogram zoo
Chattogram zoo announced the birth of three tiger cubs, raising its captive population to nine. Tigress Pori delivered the cubs, each weighing under one kilogram. But this zoo’s announcement is bleak, even dangerous: most cubs born here die within days. Joya, daughter of Raj and Pori, gave birth twice — all but one cub died quickly, neglected by the mother. The lone survivor, absurdly named Joe Biden, was eventually hand-raised by humans.
The parents themselves, Raj and Pori, were imported from South Africa in 2016 at a cost of Tk 33 lakh (about US$39,000). Since then, they have produced multiple litters, including white tigers, as said, most ending in failure. Still, officials spin each captive birth as success. But breeding programs in zoos and captivity have nothing to do with success, nor tiger conservation — they only recycle lives in cages while wild populations continue to vanish.
A cycle of confinement. Birth. Death. Repeat. None of these cubs will ever see a forest.
The Chattogram zoo article:
Based on Daily Sun, Bangladesh.
Photo credit: Daily Sun.
