August 12, 2025 – West Bend, Wi – At noon on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, David Fechter from Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary said, “It looks like Ginger is about to give birth.”
The image above is Ginger on ‘baby watch’ as a rare white tiger’s pregnancy has captured the attention of neighbors around Washington County, WI, as well as the world.
“You can feel the pressure, you can feel the excitement,” he said. “You post something and an hour later, 50,000 people have viewed it. TV stations are posting it, Facebook is blowing up. There’s no doubt — there’s a great amount of interest.”
The expectant mother, a 10-year-old tigress, has given birth before, but Fechter said this time feels more intense. “The last time she had cubs, I spent more time with them in their first four months than I did with my own children,” he said.
As of Tuesday morning, Fechter believed the moment had arrived. “She was having contractions every five minutes when I checked on her,” he said. “She wanted me to leave the den — it was time for her to be alone. A tiger’s birth is a very private thing.”
While the average litter is three to five cubs, Fechter said Ginger is unusually large, and he wouldn’t be surprised if there are more. “It’s hard telling — could be three, could be seven,” he said. “But she can only nurse four at a time, so if there are more, that means I may have to pull cubs and bottle feed.
There’s also a rare hope for the birth of a white tiger cub. “They’re on the verge of extinction, and there are only about 200 white tigers in the world,” Fechter said. “The last two times she had cubs, one was white. We’re hoping for another to keep that gene alive.”
But with the excitement comes uncertainty. “Anything can happen after birth — she could abandon them, she could eat them, we don’t know,” Fechter said. “That’s the scary part. With human babies, you have a whole team taking care of them. With tigers, it’s up to her. You just hope for a happy, successful moment.”
This will likely be Ginger’s last litter, as tigers typically breed only until about age 12, according to Fechter. “If all goes well, the cubs will stay with her for two years,” he said.
Fechter said the outpouring of public interest has been both thrilling and humbling. “We just want people to be engaged in something totally amazing,” he said. “It’s unbelievable that it’s actually happening right here.”
Praying all goes well