By Ayose Naranjo and Mario Fuentes
HAVANA, July 6 (Reuters) – For Cuban zookeeper Ángel Cordero, the sight of four Bengal tiger cubs playing in a cage at the Cuban National Zoo is a small miracle on an island stifled by shortages of fuel, medicine and days-long power outages.
The birth of these endangered big cats – including an exceedingly rare white tiger – has revitalized a team of zoo workers, he says, who arrive daily to feed nearly a thousand animals.
“It’s only the second time” white tigers have been born in Cuba, he said, gleaming with pride despite the heat and strain of dealing with seemingly endless problems. “And I was there for it.”
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 U.S. imposition of an oil blockade as an unprecedented challenge for the lion and tiger enclosures he himself helped build.
Workers require 20 liters of diesel fuel daily to distribute food to the zoo’s varied array of animals, including buffalo, zebras, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses. They receive only a five-liter allotment daily, far short of what is needed for proper feeding and maintenance.
Juan Carlos Santos, the zoo director, told Reuters that despite the energy crisis, the animal population has remained stable thanks to the efforts of zoo workers and new partnerships with small, private businesses that contribute supplies to keep the animals alive.
Meanwhile, zoo workers like Cordero must now resort to horse and buggy and electric tricycles to move around the vast, 375-hectare (9,276-acre) zoo grounds, unable to fully source the fuel they need to operate their vehicles.
“Everything relies on fuel,” said Cordero. “The animals’ movements, and the distribution of food (such as in the African Savannah enclosure), which must be transported on wheels; there is simply no other way.”
Officials said recent economic reforms that, if implemented, would transition Cuba’s socialist economy to a free-market model, could also help revitalize activities at the zoo, opening opportunities for foreign investment, scientific exchange and fresh supplies.
(Reporting by Mario Fuentes and Ayose Naranjo; Editing by Dave Sherwood and Bill Berkrot)
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