A Royal Bengal Tiger named ‘Jimmy’ has died after surviving for more than 20 years at Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park, popularly known as Chhatbir Zoo.
Jimmy died on July 26 at around 3 pm at the zoo. The average lifespan of a Royal Bengal Tiger in the wild is 10-15 years and in captivity, it may extend up to 20 years. “The tiger was born at Chhatbir Zoo and was not in good health from last two years due to old age and had been shifted to ‘off-display enclosures’ and was not put on public display,” informed an official of the zoo.
The practice of shifting the tigers after their potential age of about 15-16 years to the off display area is to provide them special care with least exposure to public and other routine disturbances. The animals in these enclosures are being given special diet with routine nutritional supplementation regularly to maintain their general health in captivity.
Jimmy was reported to experienced anorexia two days back and was under supportive treatment. The post-mortem of the big cat revealed multiple organ failure with generalised debility lesions, said zoo officials.
However, the samples have been collected for detailed histopathological examination. Now, the Chhatbir Zoo is left with five white tigers and six Royal Bengal tigers, out of which two are in the ‘off-display enclosures’.