Yellow tigress Bhakti who gave birth
to two cubs on 3 April 2021 and has experienced motherhood for the
first time while Veer, who was a white tiger and the biological father of the new-born
cubs.
The first
white tiger cub who took his last breath in the zoo on Saturday, 10 April and
died due to internal bleeding, claimed the autopsy report. As per the post-mortem
report, the cub died due to internal bleeding. The zoo officials said that the
cub suffered injuries on April 6, after it came under its mother’s feet. The
mother of the two cubs – Tigress Bhakti – did not feed them since their birth.
As a result, the forest officials offered goat milk to the cubs. While the
second cub who died on Wednesday, 14 April within four days of its siblings
death — sparking outrage among wildlife experts.
“Bhakti had not been feeding her
cubs since their birth. After the first cub’s death, the second cub had been
receiving due care. But its health deteriorated before it died around 10.30 pm
on April 14,” an official statement said.
Honorary wildlife warden Kishor
Pathak blamed the zoo authorities for the cubs’ deaths. “There are
well-established protocols for handling cubs that are rejected by their mothers
after birth. The zoo does not have qualified and skilled staff to follow such
protocols. That is the cause for the untimely deaths of the two new born cubs,”
he said.
Recalling similar incidents in the
past — including the deaths of two leopard cubs in March, 2016 —Pathak demanded
that the zoo be closed with immediate effect. “The central zoo authority of
India was right in ordering the closure of the Aurangabad-based zoo in the
recent past. But the decision was reversed due to political pressure. The zoo
should be closed and all creatures housed in it must be shifted as soon as
possible till the facility is shifted to new place with all approved staff in
place,” he said. Wildlife activist Hemant Chhajed said the flaws in the process
of the cubs’ post-death formalities.
“As a tiger is a schedule-I wildlife
animal, an officer of the rank of deputy conservator of forest must at least be
present during the post mortem and other formalities. The zoo authorities
violated the crucial norm,” he said demanding a high-level inquiry.
While acting zoo director Shaikh
Shahed did not respond to phone calls or text messages made to him, seeking his
stand on death of cub.
