After tiger deaths, Rani Baug zoo moves to bring in Bengal tiger pair

Zoo officials said the exchange has already been initiated between the two facilities. The Authority meets once every three months to approve such proposals, with permissions remaining valid for six months

Updated on: May 12, 2026, 17:14:44 IST

By Osama Rawal

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Mumbai: Rani Baug zoo is set to get a boost to its big cat population, with plans to bring in a male and female Bengal tiger from Nagpur’s Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park by early next year. The proposal is currently awaiting clearance from the Central Zoo Authority.

After tiger deaths, Rani Baug zoo moves to bring in Bengal tiger pair

Zoo officials said the exchange has already been initiated between the two facilities. The Authority meets once every three months to approve such proposals, with permissions remaining valid for six months.

The development comes as the zoo’s tiger count has dropped to just two- Jay and Karishma. Meanwhile, the Gorewada facility is housing around two dozen tigers, more than its capacity, and is looking to shift some of them.

The decline in numbers follows two tiger deaths last year. Three-year-old cub Rudra died on October 29, while nine-and-a-half-year-old Royal Bengal tiger Shakti died on November 17 due to respiratory failure after pneumonia.

The two deaths prompted the zoo administration to initiate the exchange and restore the count to four, which is the enclosure’s maximum capacity.

Apart from tigers, the zoo is also planning to introduce lions in a bid to expand its animal portfolio and draw more visitors.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Osama Rawal
Osama Rawal is a trainee correspondent at HT Mumbai. He covers Asia’s largest civic body , the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), he reports on the decisions taken by the administration and statutory bodies,how these decisions shape the city, and their impact on the lives of ordinary mumbaikars. He is particularly interested in how citizens’ movements influence and redefine urban governance in the maximum city. He firmly believes that the only way to report the BMC is through the lens of people,rather than the other way around. He also covers environment ,but his reporting extends to virtually every major development in the city, from monsoon to worsening air quality to chasing human interest stories in everything that happens in the city. His reporting combines extensive field work with data,aiming to produce stories that are both deeply reported and evidence backed. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Elphinstone College and is pursuing an LLB from the University of Mumbai. when he is not reporting you can find him buried in obscure religious and political texts,and finding evidence as a critical thinker and non conformist to back his what he considers ‘highly nuanced’ arguments.Read More

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