White tigress dies in Maharashtra zoo

Aurangabad (Maha), June 24: An 18-year-old white tigress died at the Siddharth zoo here this morning, the fourth incident of death of big cats in the zoo this year.

The tigress, 'Geeta', was born in the zoo January 18, 1998 to a tiger couple named 'Pramod-Bhanupriya' brought here from the Nandan Kanan Zoo in Odisha, zoo director Vijay Patil said.

"Since last two months, it was not consuming sufficient food due to old age. She was kept at the hospital in the zoo since June 4 and various tests revealed that her lungs, liver and kidneys were not functioning properly," he said.

Following autopsy, the carcass was consigned to flames in the presence of forest officials. This is the fourth such incident in the zoo this year.

Earlier, a 15-year-old tigress named 'Dipti', brought to Aurangabad in 2005 from Mahendra Chaudhry zoological park in Punjab, died on May 26 after brief illness. Prior to it, three newborn cubs of a leopardess had died on March 10. Besides, a yellow-black tiger 'Guddu' died in the zoo on January 19.

PTI