Tiger, leopard die in Indian zoo

Sibte Husain Bukhari

Junagadh, March 15: The historic Sakkarbagh Zoo of Junagadh lost two precious possessions this week, when a tigress and a female leopard died natural deaths recently. While the 11-year-old tigress died due to cardiac arrest, the 12-year-old leopard died of kidney infection.

According to zoo superintendent R D Katara, tigress Tohima was on display at the zoo and it died a sudden death due to cardiac arrest. The zoo’s animal keeper found the tigress dead in its cage on Tuesday. Prior to its death, the tigress was absolutely healthy and normal.

“The cardiac arrest was so severe that the animal died on the spot,” Katara said. The zoo’s veterinary doctor C N Bhuva, carried out the post mortem on the tigress.

In the other incident, the female leopard which died was under treatment for its prolonged illness. It had developed necrotic focai (tumor) in its kidney. The leopard was under constant medical observation and had been shifted from its enclosure to the treatment cage.

In Sakkarbagh Zoo, the number of tigers, including four whites, has now come down to 17. And for leopards, the zoo is overcrowded with 42 of them and the authorities have adopted the castration method to control the leopard population.

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