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White tiger ‘Kishan’ dies of cancer at Chhattisgarh’s Maitri Baag zoo
White tiger ‘Kishan’ was treated for cancer under veterinarians from Maitri Bagh and wildlife specialists from the Anjora Veterinary Hospital in Durg
A nine-year-old male white tiger named ‘Kishan’ died of cancer at the Maitri Baag zoo in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district, officials said on Wednesday.
The tiger died on Tuesday in the zoo located in the Bhilai city, 35 km from Raipur, the zoo official said. Kishan was born to tiger Sundar and tigress Kamala. Kamala had given birth to five cubs during her life before her death in 2016.
The Maitri Baag zoo is maintained by the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), the flagship unit of the country’s largest steel maker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).
A statement issued by SAIL on Wednesday said that Kishan was treated for cancer under veterinarians from Maitri Bagh and wildlife specialists from the Anjora Veterinary Hospital in Durg.
The postmortem was conducted in the presence of senior forest officials. Kishan’s last rites were performed on Tuesday evening, the statement added.
Out of the five white tiger cubs in the zoo, three were given to the Rajkot Zoo in Gujarat in exchange for a pair of lions. At present, the Maitri Baag zoo has five white tigers. The zoo authority, which halted the breeding of white tigers, is now planning to restart it, it added.
