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By Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier October 24. 2014 9:24AM Bengal tiger cubs romp at cat park Traveler Hawk, administrator at Great Cats World Park just south of Cave Junction, poses with two white Bengal tiger cubs born nine weeks ago at the park, the first tiger births at the nine-year-old park. JEFF DUEWEL/Daily Courier CAVE JUNCTION — Tigers at Great Cats World Park have paired up before, but never produced any offspring. Until Aug. 15, when Chloe gave birth to two cubs, one male and one female, each weighing about 1½ pounds. Almost 10 weeks later, the two yet-to-be named white Bengal tigers now weigh more than 20 pounds and are busy rough-housing, pulling on tarps and generally causing mischief like you'd expect. "We're pretty darn proud of these two, the first tigers ever born here," said Traveler Hawk, administrator for the nine-year-old facility a mile south of Cave Junction. "The first litter of tigers just happened to be white Bengal tigers." Bengal tigers normally are yellow to orange, but one subspecies carries the recessive gene for the light coloring, which includes a pink nose, pink toe leather and blue eyes. Both parents are white tigers, too. "We're absolutely excited about a new generation of these very endangered cats, and of course the opportunity to come visit these little guys," Hawk said. "It's unusual to see them this small, it lasts such a short period of time." On Friday the brother and sister were vigorously wrestling and chasing each other, punctuated by some serious growling that will one day become a deafening roar. They can't purr, but make a "shuffing" noise when they're content, Hawk said. They're also about to be weaned from the bottle, and going to the predator's meat diet to fuel their rapid growth. "They're growing a half-pound every day, changing and developing almost by the hour," Hawk said. "A couple of days ago they were not coordinated enough to play like this. "In the course of about two years that little girl is going to be over 300 pounds, and the little boy is going to end up over 400 pounds." A short distance away, dad Scooby, named after the cartoon character, lounged and yawned, all 480 pounds of him. Chloe, 8, successfully mated with 3-year-old Scooby, while Samson, another large male tiger, never made it work with the other females. Founded by Craig Wagner, who still runs the facility, the park now has 45 cats and 18 species, including four kinds of leopards, jaguars, mountain lion, servals, caracals, ocelots, and lynx. Voltar, a black leopard, will be 20 next year. There are five Amur leopards, the world's rarest cat, from remote eastern Asia along the border of China and Russia. While only about 30 live in the wild, close to 300 are held in captivity, Hawk said. Most of the animals will spend their entire lives here. "To release them now is a losing game," said Hawk of the Amur leopards. "They have no habitat and no prey base." The park orders meat in bulk and brings in 15,000 pounds of it at a time, placed in a huge walk-in cooler. Some is donated from local sources. Hawk said caring for the cats is all done in the spirit of raising awareness. "It's a lot of work, but one of the most important parts of conservation is education," Hawk said. "People need to understand the role of predators in the natural environment." The park is open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the fall. For more information, call 541-592-2957. Admission is $14 for adults, $12 for seniors (65 and older), and $10 for children (4-12). Reach reporter Jeff Duewel at 541-474-3720 or [email protected].   http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20141024/NEWS/141029789 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->