A 17-year-old Royal Bengal tiger dies at the Tirupati zoo

An autopsy showed that the tiger died of old age and multi-organ failure. (Representative)

Tirupati:

A 17-year-old Royal Bengal tiger died at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in the temple town of Tirupati on Monday.

According to zoo officials, the tiger named ‘Madhu’ was brought to the zoo from Banergatta Biological Park in Bengaluru in 2018.

Zoo curator C. Selvam said the tiger had been in their care for almost seven years. However, due to his advanced age and health problems, he has not been in an exhibition (public) enclosure for the past two years.

The official said the tiger had not been given food and water for the past two months. A team of pathologists from Sri Venkateswara Veterinary College conducted the autopsy.

An autopsy showed that the tiger died of old age and multi-organ failure.

This is the third tiger death at Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park this year. Two of them are Royal Bengal tigers.

In July, five-year-old tigress Julie died of illness. He was brought to SVZP from Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Park in Uttar Pradesh under an animal exchange program on February 13 this year.

A large cat that was in the enclosure suffered an injury to its left hind paw and abdominal part while playing. Since then, he has stopped eating properly.

In March, a seven-year-old male Bengal tiger died after a long-term illness. The tiger was born blind in 2016 at the zoo’s animal rescue center. In 2017, he started having epileptic seizures – a nervous disorder.

Covering an area of ​​5,532 acres, Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park is one of the largest zoos in Asia.

According to the information posted on the zoo’s website, there are 31 species of mammals, 46 species of birds and 7 species of reptiles.

In February this year, a tragedy occurred in the zoo. A man was torn apart by lions when he jumped into their enclosure.

The victim was identified as Prahlad Gujjar (34) hailing from Bansur district in Alwar district of Rajasthan.

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