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Normally relaxed and languid, they are now on constant alert,
zoo officials said yesterday.
Their ears are pricked up, and they are breathing heavily.
Only Winnie and Jippie, the two female cats which carried out
the attack, are showing these symptoms.
The other white tiger in the enclosure, Omar, a male, showed no
interest in the cleaner, Mr Nordin Montong, 32, and stayed well
away from him.
Omar is behaving normally.
The two other cats are stressed out because of the commotion
that occurred during the attack, said the zoo's assistant director
Biswajit Guha.
Onlookers screamed and keepers flung objects at the animals to
try to distract them on Thursday.
The cats' heightened senses were thus thrown off-kilter, Mr Guha
said, adding that they were probably traumatised because they had
not experienced anything like it before.
It was also the first time they had come into close contact with
a human being since they arrived in Singapore from Indonesia seven
years ago, Mr Guha said, and their sense of smell was probably
affected.
Even during feeding and cleaning, keepers stay well clear of the
big cats.
When meal times roll around, a keeper lures the cats into a
holding area behind the exhibit, places about 5kg of raw meat in
the enclosure, then leaves it before letting the cats back in.
Mr Guha said: 'The rule is that no one is allowed to enter an
enclosure in the presence of a potentially dangerous animal.
'All staff members know this.'
Over the next few days, zoo officials will try and calm the cats
down by sticking to their usual routine.
This includes checks by keepers in the mornings to make sure the
tigers' bodily functions are working well, raw meat feeding
sessions once daily and 'enrichment classes' three times a
week.
These classes involve hurling a fibreglass ball full of raw meat
into the enclosure to encourage the tigers to exercise and to
stimulate their brain activity.
The white tiger exhibit is currently closed, and the animals
have been restricted to the den area.
If all goes well, the cats will be let out again on Monday, and
the exhibit will be reopened, said Mr Guha.
He added that the tigers were not overly aggressive, and had
merely shown behaviour that comes naturally to big cats.
In fact, he said, the zoo's tigers are conditioned to the
presence of human beings and are likely to be less aggressive
around them than their cousins in the wild.
He added: 'It is only when they feel threatened, feel their
territory is intruded upon, or view an object as potential prey
that they attack. Usually, they would keep away.'
JESSICA LIM
ST