KARACHI: The birth of three puma cubs saved the day for zoo officials who remained in the media spotlight after the recent death of a Bengal tiger, it emerged during a visit to the zoo on Saturday.

The entire enclosure, where the cubs were born late Thursday night, was shielded with a thin jute sheet. “We have secured the entire enclosure from public viewing and nobody from outside is allowed to take their picture, as the mother and the litter need to be alone together at this time,” said zoo director Fahim Khan.

The latest arrival has increased the number of pumas at the zoo to seven, which is indeed good news for the zoo but even more important is the survival of the young ones.

The zoo has a poor track record in handling newborns, as last year two puma cubs died within two months of their birth. The zoo staff claimed that they had no clue to what might have caused their death.

The first puma birth took place three years ago from a pair that had been brought to the zoo in 2012.

Strangely enough, there has been no reported birth in any other big cat species housed at the zoo for a long time. They include two pairs of lions and Bengal tigers, which had also been brought to the zoo in 2012.

“When a new pair of Bengal tiger was purchased from abroad five years ago, we already had two male tigers here. The zoo lost the male tigers one after another without any birth in five years and now there is only one female left,” admitted a zoo official while speaking Dawn.

One of the two pairs of lions had given birth to a litter of four cubs in 2011. Three of the cubs died while the remaining one went missing under mysterious circumstances. No lion birth has been reported at the zoo since then.

While officials blamed ‘nature’ for the lack of births, the sources said professional care and handling was important to encourage lions and tigers to breed in zoo.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2016