Siliguri: Bengal Safari Park authorities are happy with the arrival of three tiger cubs. Following the deaths of two cubs of white tiger Kika, the Safari authorities were pinning hopes on tigress Rika, which gave birth to three royal cubs. After the birth of three cubs, the Safari Park authorities heaved a sigh of relief. It may be noted that tigress Kika is the sister of Rika.
West Bengal Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mallik made an announcement about the birth of the three cubs on Saturday. Tigress Rika gave birth to the three cubs on August 19, but the announcement was made on Saturday. Recently, the white tiger Kika had given birth to two cubs. As Kika was suffering from canine distemper infection, her two cubs were also born with various complications and later both the cubs died.
The five-year-old Rika gave birth to three cubs for the first time. Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mallick, state's chief wildlife warden Debal Roy, Zoo Authority member secretary Saurabh Chakraborty, additional chief forest officer (wildlife) Ujjal Ghosh and chief forest officer (wildlife, north Bengal) Rajendra Zakhar visited the Bengal Safari Park on Saturday.