SGNP’s oldest Royal Bengal Tiger dies at 13

MUMBAI: The oldest male Royal Bengal Tiger at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP)’s safari park, Palash died on Tuesday morning.

MUMBAI: The oldest male Royal Bengal Tiger at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP)’s safari park, Palash died on Tuesday morning.

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HT had earlier reported the tiger had a fit on Monday after which it was unable to urinate. SGNP veterinarians had detected a renal last Wednesday. The tiger was also suffering from septicemia or blood poisoning for the past one week.

“After trying our best to save him, Palash died at 3.15am. He had not been eating for the past four days and was living on salines and oral glucose,” said Dr Shailesh Pethe, veterinarian, SGNP. “His serum creatinine levels had shot up along with blood nitrogen urea levels. He died due to excessive weakness.”

The 13-year-old tiger was cremated by forest officers, after the pathology department of the Bombay Veterinary College conducted a post-mortem. Pethe said animals with high protein diet such as tigers are prone to renal issues and most carnivores are susceptible to them at old age. The lifespan of tigers in captivity is between 14 years and 16 years. “We had experts from Bombay Veterinary College visiting SGNP for his treatment. The tiger had been put on saline but there were minimal chances that he would survive,” said Pethe.

Forest officials added that the health issues were detected from a blood report earlier last week that identified the renal failure. “While he was being treated, the problem of old age nullified the efforts,” said Vikas Gupta, chief conservator of forests, SGNP.

Palash was the second oldest tiger in the country at the park after 16-year-old male albino tiger Bajirao. He was brought to SGNP from Vanvihar National Park, Bhopal in April 2006 at the age of 3. Currently, there are seven tigers at the national park — four female Royal Bengal tigers, two male and one white Albino tiger. In August this year, twin Royal Bengal tigresses were brought to SGNP from Pench Tiger Reserve and were named Bijlee and Mastani by the park officials.

PALASH FATHERED 80% OF PARK’S TIGERS

Forest officers said Palash fathered 80% of the tiger population in SGNP.

Palash had four offsprings with his mate Basanti – two males, Yash and Anand, and two females, Laxmi and Puja.

Puja, a four-year-and-three-month-old Royal Bengal tigress, died on February 4 last year at the park as she was suffering from septicemia, also known as blood poisoning, since September 2014. “We were extremely nervous over the past week due to his health. It is a great loss for SGNP as he was greatly loved by all our staffers,” said Shailesh Deore, range forest officer, SGNP.