A tiger cub named Joe Biden was born at Chattogram Zoo in 2020. Abandoned by his mother soon after birth, he was raised by the zoo's officials. Now Joe Biden and the tigress Joya have had three cubs of their own.

The cubs were born on the evening of Friday, 23 February, Dr Shahadat Hossain Shuvo, deputy curator of Chattogram Zoo, told Jagonews.

In 2016 the zoo authorities brought a pair of tigers from South Africa at a cost of Tk 33 lakh. The tiger was named Raj and the tigress Pori.

With 15 cubs born to Raj and Pori, the zoo now has 17 tigers, with a commercial value of about Tk 6 crore, according to the authorities.

"The tigress Joya was born in July 2018 and the tiger Joe Biden on 28 December 2020. Joe Biden was abandoned by his mother right after birth, and was then raised under the management of Chattogram Zoo," said Dr Shahadat Hossain Shuvo, described in the report as curator.

"After a year of hand-rearing, he was reintroduced as a member of the other tiger families in the enclosure through a special socialisation process. Now, as an adult, he has formed his own family for the first time. The cycle of a tiger raised by human hands being reunited with tiger families and then breeding is a rare event," he said.

Chattogram Zoo was founded on 28 February 1989 in the Foy's Lake area of the port city and now covers 10 acres.

It houses 620 animals of 65 species, including white tigers, lions, bears, crocodiles, several kinds of deer and monkeys, chimpanzees, owls, porcupines, foxes, zebras, peacocks, ostriches, vultures, turkeys, various breeds of pigeon, pythons and emus.

On average, 3,000 visitors come to see the animals every day. The zoo earns Tk 50 crore a year from ticket sales.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.