A pal of gloom descended over the Nanadankanan Zoological Park (NZP) here when tigress ‘Priyanka’ died on Monday morning.
The tigress was suffering from old age-related ailments for past two years. The immediate cause of her death would be ascertained after the postmortem is received.
With her death, the number of tigers in the zoo has declined to 26.
The death of Priyanka is considered to be a major loss for Odisha, which registered a stagnant tiger population of 28 in the latest census of the big cats conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
Earlier, a Royal Bengal tiger ‘Roshan’ had died in the State on February 20 this year.