Ludhiana, June 3 -- Lying shut for 17 months, the tiger safari at Ludhiana zoo was thrown open to public on Tuesday following the much-awaited debut of a new pair of Royal Bengal tigers, marking the revival of the facility's biggest attraction.

Christened Badal and Bijli, both below five years of age, the male-female pair has been provided by the Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park in Maharashtra's Nagpur following a request by the Ludhiana zoo authorities.

After undergoing acclimatisation for a month, the tigers were released into their enclosure, resuming the safari that had remained closed since December 2024.

With the arrival of Badal and Bijli, Ludhiana zoo now becomes only the second zoo in Punjab to house ...