The Delhi Zoo lost yet another of its striped cats when a white tigress died of septicaemia contracted after delivering four cubs. The eight-year-old Khushi died on June 13.
“She managed to deliver one live cub last Monday while two were stillborn. Another one was stuck inside her womb, which caused the infection,” said curator of Delhi Zoo RA Khan. The cub, which was delivered alive, died after a few hours, he added.
“We tried our best to save Khushi, putting her on medication throughout the delivery. She was under immense stress while trying to deliver the last cub. She did not allow us to remove the other cubs,” said Khan.
The tigress’ condition deteriorated soon after the last cub was taken out dead. “It is a sad incident for us, given that we lost them just after death of a tiger and a tigress,” added said.
“We have six white tigers and three Royal Bengal tigers at present. We are trying to increase the number through inbreeding,” said the official. The Delhi Zoo is also planning to acquire a male rhino from Patna Zoo, besides getting rhino Shiva from the Jijamata Udyan in Mumbai.
Khushi had lost two cubs in February this year. Her first cub died in the first week of February due to birth deformities and abnormalities causing pneumonia. The cub was shifted to the zoo hospital after she was found weak but died within 20 days.
In the same month, Khushi’s second cub died on February 13 while playing with the wooden plank placed inside its enclosure. The mother of the cub in an attempt to save its young one stepped over it, fracturing the cub’s ribs and rupturing its lungs.