Delhi Zoo gets a new occupant from Lucknow — a 3-year-old white tiger

Zoo director Dr Suneesh Buxy said, “The tiger was kept in observation once it arrived as we were studying its reaction when introduced to other tigers. It is huge, around 9-ft tall, and also aggressive.”

Vijay was released in the tiger enclosure Wednesday afternoon. With this addition, the Delhi Zoo has seven white tigers, three female and four male, as well as two yellow-striped male Royal Bengal tigers.

A zoo official said they were trying to acquire a female yellow-striped Royal Bengal tiger since it would help in their conservation efforts.

Among other animals and birds the zoo is planning to acquire this year are a pair of chimpanzees, giraffes and ostriches.

The ostriches are expected to arrive from Chandigarh Zoo after the winter, an official said, adding that they are trying to get the chimpanzees this year itself.
“We have written to zoos in Malaysia, Jakarta and other places for the chimpanzees. We also wrote to international zoos, including those in Singapore and the Netherlands, for the giraffes,” a zoo official said.

The last surviving chimpanzee in the zoo, 59-year-old Rita, who was India’s oldest chimpanzee, died in October 2019 due to multiple organ failure. The zoo has not been home to a giraffe since June 2015, when its last surviving giraffe, Ankit, died after suffering a heart attack and kidney failure.

To keep the animals warm this winter, zoo authorities have made arrangements such as placing paddy straws and turning on heaters inside animal enclosures. Weather-appropriate changes are also being made in their diet.

This would be a second white tiger named Vijay in the Delhi zoo. Another white tiger named Vijay, who is also still in the zoo, had mauled a 22-year-old man to death in 2014 after he had entered its enclosure.