Bid to attract more tourists makes white tiger cubs ill

27 Aug 2009, 2115 hrs IST, IANS

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BHOPAL: Three white tiger cubs have fallen ill at Madhya Pradesh’s Indore zoo allegedly due to the authorities’ decision to prematurely release them into an enclosure for public viewing in a bid to attract more tourists, wildlife experts said.

“All the three cubs, born at the zoo in March, were suffering from diarrhoea and dehydration for the past few days. The problem has been caused due to the premature release of the cubs in the enclosure for the tourists,” a zoo employee told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

Wildlife experts say that the infection was caused as the release of the cubs in the enclosure was quite premature.

Zoo superintendent B.L. Sharma, however, said that the health problem with the cubs was due to constantly changing weather which is causing various diseases like malaria and dengue even among human beings and animals are as susceptible to it as humans.

“Cubs, like human kids, fall prey to these seasonal diseases more easily,” he said adding that all efforts were being made to safeguard the health of the white tiger cubs.

The cubs’ illness was first noticed Saturday when they were found to be discharging slightly green and runny stools. First local veterinarians and then doctors from the Mhow Veterinary College were called in to treat them.

“Tests have shown that the cubs were suffering from bacterial gastro-enteritis. We’ve administered saline drips and white blood cell (WBC) counts have increased after the treatment for the past four days,” said Dr Hemant Mehta of Mhow Veterinary College who has been attending the animals along with other veterinarians.

“While the condition of two of them is improving fast, it is difficult to make a prediction for the third one right now,” he said.

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