SASKATOON - Two rare, white Bengal tiger cubs are the latest attraction at the Saskatoon zoo.

Staff named the baby tigers Jasmine and Jafar after they were born on May 31. Their mother, Rani, was unable to nurse the pair, so zookeepers have taken over feeding and caring for the tiny cats.

They are now on display in the Children's Zoo section of the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo.

Zoo manager John Moran said Monday the cubs are fed a mixture of kittens' milk and hamburger mince every three hours.

The amount of solid food in their diet increases every two days and will also include chicken and fish.

So far, Moran has scratches on his hands from feeding the growling, clawing cubs milk through a baby bottle.

"They're very aggressive," said Moran. "They're wild animals, and you've got to respect them."

Their mother and father are on a breeding loan from a zoo north of Toronto, where the babies will have to return in the fall.

Moran says a recessive gene causes one out of every 10,000 Bengal tigers to have white instead of orange fur.

The Canadian Press