Dereth's White Tigers


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The most famous white tiger of all--Mohan:

In May 1951, Maharajah Shri Martand Singh was hunting in the jungles of Bandhavgarh, (Central India). On the 25th a report came in that a tigress had been sighted with four cubs, one of which was white.

The next day a search was carried out designed to find the tigress. This involved the beating of drums and cans, firing shots, trumpet blasts and shouting.

The next morning no trace of the white cub could be found, but eventually pug marks were sighted at a kill made by the mother. Hunger had brought the cub back and it had hidden in a rock crevice. A local carpenter made a drop-gate cage which was placed at the exit to the crevice. Knowing the cub must be getting thirsty, water was used to tempt the cub into the cage. Several hours later the plan worked and the youngster was captured.

On the 30th of May, only three days after its capture, the white cub escaped and a long hunt was organized to try and recover it. There were several violent confrontations during which time an attempt to net the cub resulted in a mauling. When the cub again attempted to attack he was clubbed hard on the head. The thump knocked him unconscious and gave the men the chance to tie his legs and cage him.

The white cub was taken to the Maharajah's 150-room palace and placed in a large open courtyard. He lived here the remainder of his life. This tiger was the famed Mohan.

In December 1957, Mohan was mated with Radha, his four year old daughter from the second litter with Begum, a normal colored tigress. October 20th,1958, Radha produced an all white litter of a male and three female cubs. They were christened Raja, Rani, Sukeshi, and Mohini. Subsequently, Raja and Rani were gifted to the National Zoological Gardens in New Delhi. Mohini was transported to Washington, D.C. Sukeshi was kept for mating with Mohan and remained with him until he was withdrawn from breeding. Her son showed no interest in mating with her and after six years without success she too was transferred to the National Zoological Gardens in New Delhi where she died on the 2nd of February 1975.