The Delhi zoo has lost a tiger cub, 17 days after its mother Nirbhaya died due to birth complications. The six-year-old white tigress, Nirbhaya, had given birth to two cubs on December 10.
According to Ramesh Pandey, the Director, Delhi Zoo, Nirbhaya had developed complications due to her inability to release the remaining cub and had died on December 14.
“One of her cubs had also died during that period. The other was being hand-reared in the veterinary hospital by a dedicated team but "the efforts did not yield much results,” said Pandey.
“It succumbed to "acute illness" on Tuesday. The post-mortem has been completed and its viscera is being sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, for histo-pathological and other examinations,” he said.
At present, the zoo has a pair of normal-coated Bengal tigers and five white tigers. Pandey also said that winter drills have intensified at the zoo and paddy straw, heaters, hessian cloth curtains, agronet covers and special food including soups, jaggery and groundnuts were being provided to the animals to keep the cold at bay.
He also said the zoo would not open for public at least till January 31 as per the COVID-19 guidelines. “Whenever it opens, people will be able to book tickets online through the newly-created website,” he said.
