Darjeeling (West Bengal): The cub of the lone white tiger Kika died in Bengal Safari Park in West Bengal's Darjeeling district on Wednesday. This is the second tiger cub death in the park in over a month.
Although park officials are tight-lipped on the cause of death, sources said that the cub died due to acute malnutrition as it was refusing mother's milk for the last two to three days. Meanwhile, Kika is now under treatment as she stopped eating after losing both her cubs, park sources said.
kika had given birth to two cubs on July 12. But, one cub died the next day while the second one passed away on August 16. Deaths of the two cubs have brought the role of Bengal Safari Park authorities under the scanner. According to Safari Park sources, the first cub was stillborn and the second one probably died due to malnutrition.
Even though veterinarians were brought to the park from Darjeeling and Alipurduar, the cub did not respond to the treatment and eventually died. State Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mallick said, "The cub probably died due to malnutrition. But, why such an incident took place will be investigated."
Questions about the role of park authorities have started to arise following the cub's death. Many complaints have surfaced against the park authorities about retrenchment of staff, favouritism in the recruitment process, tender process during allotment of work in the park and commission in the name of car rental.
On May 11, 2018, Kika was born to Sheela and Snehashis along with her siblings Ika and Rika at the Bengal Safari Park. Later on, Ika died and among Rika and Kika, the latter was an albino.
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In 2019, the state's then forest minister Bratya Basu, tourism minister Gautam Deb and North Bengal development minister Rabindranath Ghosh released Rika and Kika in the open arena at Bengal Safari Park. In July 2023, Kika gave birth to two white cubs, but unfortunately none could be saved.
