Bhopal: The tiger population at Van Vihar National Park Bhopal, as the tigress ‘Ira’ has died on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. The big cat had suddenly fallen ill on Tuesday afternoon and extensive medical assistance by the park administration could not save it. Notably, this is the first casualty among Van Vihar big cat population in the running year. Suffocation following vomiting has been the reason for the death as per the post mortem report.
According to the Van Vihar officials, the three-year-old tigress was absolutely all right till Tuesday morning and its condition suddenly deteriorated in the afternoon. The park administration rushed for its rescue immediately along with the medical staff. Park veterinary expert had entered tigress’ enclosure for tranquilizing the big cat for starting treatment. Afterwards, the treatment was started and veterinary experts came to know that the feline is having a high body temperature of 106 degrees and also was breathing profusely. Apart from park veterinary experts, physicians from SOS Dr Kajal Jadhav also assisted in the treatment. Wildlife experts from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and Veterinary College Jabalpur were also consulted for treatment.
The treatment had controlled the body temperature and the breathing rate of the big cat but Ira died in the night. Park director SS Rajput informed that the autopsy has revealed that the big cat had suffered obstructed oxygen supply, following vomiting. He added that humans, especially kids also suffer similar problems but it’s quite rare for animals. Taking the death seriously, the park administration has formed a committee led by wildlife expert Dr AB Srivastava, for probing the causes of death incident. Other members include one representative each from State Veterinary Hospital, State Animal Diseases Investigation Lab, SOS wildlife expert Dr Kajal Jadhav and Van Vihar deputy director as the member secretary. Notably the big cat was brought to the park from Bandhavgarh National Park, when it was 5 months old. The feline was kept in the display area and was very popular among the park visitors.