Officials investigate tiger’s death in Bhopal
By IANS
Sunday December 9, 04:59 PM
Bhopal, Dec 9 (IANS) The officials investigating the death of a tiger in Bhopal’s Van Vihar national park three days ago have said blood samples are being sent to laboratories to establish the exact cause of death.
Gautam, the five-year-old tiger had died Thursday in the park following an illness.
According to the post-mortem report, the animal had been suffering from various diseases like babesiosis – a parasitic disease, severe gastritis, liver and blood infection.
‘Blood samples of the tiger are being sent to different laboratories including those in Bhopal and Jabalpur to determine the exact cause of death. Only after a detailed investigation we would be able to tell more,’ said veterinarian A.B. Shrivastava who treated the animal.
‘Blood samples of other carnivorous animals in the park are also being sent for testing,’ he said.
Gautam was born in Ratapani sanctuary in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh and brought to Van Vihar national park three years ago. He was kept in a new facility inside the park where five other tigers were also housed.
‘He had not been well since Nov 26 and had stopped eating. Preliminary investigations revealed he was suffering from babesiosis – an uncommon parasitic disease,’ Park Director Jasbeer Singh Chauhan said.
He said there was no negligence on the part of the management in the treatment of the animal.
Officials said they been concerned over the frequent deaths of tigers in the park. Now they have decided to conduct tests on other tigers to find out whether they are also suffering from similar diseases.
Chauhan said an advanced animal disease testing centre and better infrastructure is needed for better care of the animals.
In the past 18 months, six tigers have died in the park.
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