Aurangabad, Jan 24 (PTI) The Central Zoo Authority has asked the civic-run Siddharth Zoo in Aurangabad in Maharashtra to ensure there is no inbreeding of tigers and has directed that mating of the big cats be put on hold, an official said on Monday.

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The 14 tigers, including five cubs, currently in the zoo run by Aurangabad Municipal Corporation are born in the facility itself and, hence, the letter from CZA, the official explained.

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"Since the tigers are born here, they are related to each other in some way. So the CZA asked us to avoid inbreeding. We have put on hold mating for a year now. We plan to seek tigers from other places for mating purposes," Deputy Commissioner Saurabh Joshi told PTI.

The five cubs currently in the zoo were born on Christmas in 2020.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)