A white Bengal tiger cub was discovered in a raid on a villa in Istanbul’s Silivri district. The rare animal, whose ownership is banned in Turkey, was in the residence of foreign national M.S., along with a macaque.

Gendarmerie troops and officials from a local branch of the Directorate of National Parks confiscated two animals after visiting the house following a tip-off. The cub was placed in the care of the national parks authority, which oversees wildlife preservation areas in the city. The suspect was "subject to criminal proceedings," authorities said. Ownership of such exotic animals, especially those with endangered status, is punishable with fines in the country.

The cub and macaque will be sent to a zoo in Gaziantep in southern Turkey. They are being temporarily sheltered at a wildlife park and zoo in Istanbul’s Polonezköy. Cem Sanlı, an official from the Polonezköy zoo, said white tigers are quite rare, "perhaps one in 10,000 cubs." Sanlı told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the cub would soon be delivered to the other zoo, which had more experience in handling such wild animals. "He is about four or five months and separated from his mother. He is apparently bottle-fed and this might cause some health problems," he noted.

Sanlı said white Bengal tigers cannot survive long in the wild as their distinctive color prevents them from properly camouflaging to hunt prey. "Most white tigers are in captivity, and they are really rare. As far as I know, there is no other white tiger in Turkey," he said.

White tigers are born with a genetic mutation known as leucism, which also affects some other animals including birds, and causes a reduction in pigmentation. The conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) describes white tigers as "a genetic anomaly," with none known to exist in the wild. There are several dozen in captivity around the world. White tigers are Bengal tigers whose parents carry a recessive gene, according to the nonprofit Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota, which helps and studies felines. They are not albinos or a separate species. Some parks and zoos inbreed white tigers, as the rarity draws more visitors, though this is often at the cost of malformations and other genetic problems, according to the sanctuary website.

The Asian big cats are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The WWF says about 3,900 tigers remain in the wild, "but much more work is needed to protect this species if we are to secure its future in the wild."

"In some areas, including much of Southeast Asia, tigers are still in crisis and declining in number," the WWF website says.