Tiger in a flap: hand-reared cub enjoys creature comforts

Buster the rare white Bengal tiger is no exception.

So when he feels the urge to stretch his paws, he clambers through the cat flap and has a wander round the conservatory.

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The cub, now eight weeks old, is living at the home of safari park veterinary nurse Lucy Pearsall.

She took him in after his mother Tikva left him for dead in their pen at the West Midland Safari Park in Bewdley, Worcestershire.

Buster had stopped feeding and was cold and dehydrated.

Miss Pearsall wrapped him up and bottle-fed him, and introduced him to her four domestic cats, Bubble, Pepper, Sylvester and Oreo.

Now he is house trained and weighs a healthy 17.5lb.

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Miss Pearsall, 28, said: "He is very clever and worked out the cat flap all by himself.

"Three weeks ago he just popped through while I was sitting in the conservatory.

"He is very affectionate and I think he must have been looking for me because I'm like his mummy now."

Buster will stay with her until he is big enough to return to the safari park.

White tigers, whose colour is caused by an unusual genetic combination, are extinct in the wild.

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Buster is bottle fed five times a day with a mixture of puppy and kitten milk and small pieces of mince, steak and chicken.

When fully grown, he will be about 10ft long from nose to tail.

Miss Pearsell said: "He can't go outside yet because he hasn't had his jabs, but he enjoys wandering round the house and jumping on the bed and sofa.

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"I'll keep him for as long as I can before he goes back to live at the safari park. He's growing very quickly and his claws are very sharp, but his teeth haven't come through yet so he hasn't got too destructive yet."

White tigers - the colour is caused by an unusual genetic combination - are extinct in the wild, although there are several dozen in zoos.

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West Midland Safari Park has eight in their collection representing the largest breeding group of White Bengal Tigers in the UK.

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