IN EARLY February, the Bratislava zoo introduced to the public three white tiger cubs, born to the female tiger Shilang on December 11, 2012. “All three cubs – two females, Adisa and Asira, and one male, Adžaj – are healthy, vital and the mother is caring for them perfectly,” head of the zoo Miloslava Šavelová told the TASR newswire.

The birth of the three cubs, which lasted five hours, was Shilang’s fourth. She was born in 2005, and arrived in Bratislava in October 2006 from a French zoo in Cerza-Lisieux. The father, Achilles, was born in 2002 and came to the Slovak capital in November 2006 from the zoo in the Czech city of Liberec. The family of white tigers has been viewable to the public since a media photo session was held on February 8.

“We didn’t want to show the baby tigers earlier – the cubs are very fragile and we are always worried whether they would survive, so even we from the zoo try to enter their pen as little as possible,” Šavelová explained.