© Daryl Balfour / Barcroft Media
This adorable newborn cub is incredibly thought to be the only white tiger living wild on the planet.
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Lovingly being lapped by his huge tigress mum, the cute critter is unaware of all the fuss around him.
And with his rare colouring he stands in stark contrast to his four normal-coloured brothers and sisters.
Captured here on film at just a few hours old near their home in the Tiger Canyons Sanctuary near Phillipolis in central South Africa, the amazing litter is carrying the future of their species on their tiny shoulders.
© Daryl Balfour / Barcroft Media
The cubs entered the world in dramatic fashion on Monday night during a huge electrical storm.
They’re being watched over by tiger conservationist John Varty, 58, who runs the sanctuary and is building a population of wild-living tigers outside of Asia. He hopes one day his “self-sufficient” cats can be shipped to countries like India to boost dwindling numbers in their natural environment.
Instantly raising the sanctuary’s total number of tigers from 12 to 17 in a single birth, John and his team are ecstatic about the new cubs.
© Daryl Balfour / Barcroft Media
He said: “They’re an incredible addition. Their mother Julie is like a member of my family, so for me seeing them for the first time was very emotional for me.”
Julie, 10, was born in a US zoo before being moved to Tiger Canyon in 2000.
Since then she has given birth to three litters but this is the first time Julie has had a white cub. Amazingly the ghostly coloured creature is the first of his kind born in the past 50 years.
Their dad Seatao, 4, a colossal 36-stone male, has already shown his paternal side by paying a visit Julie and the new offspring.
The little cubs will enjoy the freedom of roaming around the 1,000-hectare sanctuary’s but will have to fight for survival alone.
© Daryl Balfour / Barcroft Media
John – determined all the big cats in his sanctuary grow up wild and free roaming – will refuse to intervene even if the rare white cub gets into trouble.
He said: “We have to hope that he will make it through. There are a lot of natural predators out there, but they have to be self-sufficient. I cannot intervene, no matter how much I might want to. Nature will have it’s way.”
The Asian Tiger population has been hunted almost to extinction. The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates that their number has plummeted from 5,000 to just 1,000 in the past nine years.
Critics have suggested that the tigers would be better in their home in Asia, but John is concerned about a lack of commitment on the part of local authorities in countries where the tiger lives naturally.
He said: “The human populations in Asia are so huge and growing so rapidly that Asian governments are more concerned with growing food, housing, education, poverty, and fresh water for humans than they are about tiger conservation.
© Daryl Balfour / Barcroft Media
“It really doesn’t matter whether the tiger sanctuaries are in Australia, Texas, or South Africa. What is needed is money, suitable land, suitable prey, a fenced park, and a commitment to saving the tiger.
“Africa has the best blueprint for saving the tiger because they have already succeeded with lions, leopards and cheetahs.”
John kept watchful eye on Julie after she fell pregnant in July, hoping to catch the birth on camera.
He said: “She’d been pregnant for 107 days which is five days longer than usual so we thought it might be a big litter.
“I waited, hoping to capture it on camera, but eventually we had to return to the lodge because there was a terrible storm.
© Daryl Balfour / Barcroft Media
“When we came back the next morning there were five new tigers feeding happily and while I was disappointed we hadn’t caught it, I was so elated she’d had such a big litter.
“We knew that Julie and Seatou were both carriers of the white gene. But even so there was only a 24 percent chance that a white tiger would be born. When I saw the white cub my heart skipped a beat.
“They look like they weigh about 800-1000 grams. They’re all very robust and healthy. One I suspect is a male has already opened his eyes.”
When the cubs are big enough to leave home they will be transported to one of John’s two other parks nearby in South Africa.
Words by Isabell Jensen
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