A tiger at the zoo. Telegraph picture

Jamshedpur, April 16: Hooray for the big cats at Tata zoo! The authorities of the facility have decided to allow tigers and lions to mate, a decade after the affair was stopped.

The authorities at Tata Steel Zoological Society (TSZS) has stopped breeding of lions and tigers because of a space crunch. Now the situation had changed as TSZS has exchanged some animals from here with other zoos. This has allowed the authorities to overcome the space crunch.

“Our decision to not allow breeding was intentional, not biological,” said M.S. Jain, the director of the zoo. “Now we won’t mind if they breed. In fact, we want them to breed. We are more interested in breeding of tigers.”

The zoo wants to breed pure and not the hybrid ones. “The Central Zoo Authority wants pure breed of lions and tigers,” Jain said, adding that they were hopeful about tiger breeding but the same cannot be said about the lions.

The zoo has two tigers and one tigress as well as two lionesses and one lion.

Jain, an Indian Forest Service officer of the Himachal cadre, explained that male tigers at the Tata zoo are over the breeding age. “Nine is the maximum age limit for tigers to breed but the male tigers at our disposal are already 15. However, we are not worried about the female, which is within the range,” he said.

Among lions, Jain said, the females don’t fulfil the age criteria for breeding. “The male lion, which was procured from a rescue centre, is young. The females are much older. Let’s see what happens,” he said on a hopeful note.

The zoo director clarified that the plan for pure breeds was a long-term goal and they would take adequate steps in due course of time. The TSZS authorities have decided to keep a close watch on the behaviour of the beasts to facilitate reproduction.

Now that the zoo has adequate space, the authorities are also considering breeding leopards. The senior functionary of the zoo said breeding is controlled by the availability of space. “Space is a contributing factor as far as breeding is concerned. We have to look into this factor more seriously as ours is a small zoo,” said Jain.