Cuban zoo celebrates birth of Bengal tigers amid energy crisis | Cuba

For Cuban zookeeper Ángel Cordero, the sight of four Bengal tiger cubs playing in a cage at Cuba’s national zoo is a small miracle on an island overwhelmed by fuel, medicine shortages and days-long power outages.

The birth of these endangered big cats, including an extremely rare white tiger, has reinvigorated a team of zoo workers, he said.

He said white tigers were “born only for the second time” in Cuba; he was beaming with pride despite the heat and tension of dealing with endless problems. “And that’s what I was there for.”

Cordero, who has worked at the zoo for 44 years, has witnessed decades of hardship on the island. But he describes the situation following the US oil blockade as an unprecedented challenge for the lion and tiger reserves he helped build.

Workers need 20 liters of diesel fuel a day to distribute food to the zoo’s various animals, including buffalos, zebras, rhinos and hippos. They only get a ration of five liters a day, far below the amount needed for proper nutrition and care.

Zoo director Juan Carlos Santos told Reuters that despite the energy crisis, the animal population remained stable thanks to the efforts of zoo staff and new partnerships with small, private businesses that provide supplies to keep the animals alive.

Meanwhile, zoo workers like Cordero are now forced to resort to horse-drawn carriages and electric tricycles to get around the vast 375-hectare (926-acre) zoo grounds, and they can’t quite get the fuel they need to power their vehicles.

“It all depends on fuel,” Cordero said. “The movements of animals and the distribution of food, which must be carried on wheels (as on the African savannah); there is no other way.”

Recent economic reforms, which, if implemented, would shift Cuba’s socialist economy to a free-market model, could also help revitalize zoo operations and open opportunities for foreign investment, scientific exchange and fresh supplies, officials said.