Royal Bengal Tigers dying of 'Shock, nervous disorder, andsenility'

New Delhi, Mar 20 (UNI) Senility, shock and nervous disorders were among the several causes of the death of 16 royal Bengal tigers in different zoological parks of the country during the last one year.

The Information was given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Rajya Sabha today in a written reply to a question.

Other reasons for the tigers' deaths include old age, acute respiratory failure, fibrosis of lever, respiratory distress, congestive heart failure and renal failure He said the deaths were reported from Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park, Tirupati in the same state, Biological Park Itanagar(Arunachal Pradesh), Mini Zoo, Pipli in Haryana, Jawaharlal Nehru Biological Park in Jharkhand, Dr K Shivram Karanth Pilikula Biological Park, Mangalore in Karnataka, Tiger and Lion Safari, Thyyarekoppa, Shimoga in Karnataka, Vanvihar National Park and Wildlife Research Centre, Pune in Maharashtra, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali, Mumbai in the same state, Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park Chhatbir in Punjab and Kanpur Zoological Park in Uttar Pradesh.

Replying to a related question, the Prime Minister said that death of three tigers had been reported from the Corbett Tiger Reserve of Uttarakhand last year.

The population of tiger in Jim Corbett, as per the latest census figure was estimated to be 178, he said.

Dr Singh said financial and technical support was being provided to states under various centrally sponsored schemes like Project Tiger and Development of National Park and Sanctuaries to enable them to give effective protection to wild animals.

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