White tiger saved from war finds new home

A distinctive white tiger rescued from conflict-hit Ukraine has found a new home in Lincolnshire.

Aleks arrived at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park, near Friskney, on Saturday after a three-day, 1,600 mile (2,500km) journey.

Park director Steve Nichols said military volunteers looking for survivors in "bombed-out" areas came across him in a residential back garden in June 2024 in the Kharkiv region.

Nichols said, despite his long journey, Aleks was "very grumpy, very achy and very tired," and added, "but in all honesty he's actually settling in a little bit better than we thought he would do".

Nichols said the area Aleks had been rescued from was "under siege" and he had received rehabilitation after being found "almost dead" during the war.

He said the tiger was found "dehydrated, infested with parasites and exhausted".

However, he said the he was currently "laid in absolute luxury".

The director said: "He's having the best food he's ever had. He's absolutely comfortable. It's all peace and quiet.

"And he's actually, we don't think that they have this kind of emotion, but he looks like he's grateful."

Nichols said only one in 10,000 tigers in the wild were born with a white coat and most were bred in captivity to have this fur.

He said Aleks was settling into his enclosure away from the public, but the park would be sharing a live video stream of the tiger and updates on their social media channels.

"We want to assess him over the next three or four weeks to see whether he likes to be near humans, or whether he'd rather be on his own and kept at a distance," he added.

Though tigers are usually solitary animals, if Aleks is amenable to the company of another tiger, the rescue might also introduce him to their tigress Sajhiba, who "does like males", Nichols said.

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