The Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad lost its second white tiger this month, after 14-year-old Badri, who was undergoing treatment for a tumour below his ear, passed away on Friday. 21-year-old Vinay, another white tiger, had passed away at the zoo on August 5 due to complications arising out of old age.
Zoo officials said that Badri was born in the Tirupati zoo. He had a massive inflammation below his ear on account of a tumour, due to which he was only able to eat small pieces of chicken and beef, authorities stated.
While he was tranquilized and treated recently, officials said that he could not make a complete recovery and the swelling made a comeback.
On Friday, zoo authorities took Badri into a squeeze cage for treatment and gave him medication, but he breathed his last at 11:30 am.
A post mortem was conducted, which revealed multiple tumours as a possible cause of death, including a tumour in the neck which was found to be weighing approximately 5 kg.
Zoo authorities also said that samples were collected sent to the Veterinary Biological Research Institute in Shantinagar and the College of Veterinary Science in Rajendranagar, besides the Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) under the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), located in Attapur for a detailed investigation.
The latest death comes as a blow to the zoo as this is their second white tiger to die this month. 21-year-old Vinay, who was born at the zoo on January 29, 1998, to tigers Murugan and Karuna, had died at 10:45 pm on August 5.
"The animal was kept in the off-display facility since the past 5 years due to old age. It was under intensive care at Summer House. The veterinary team of zoo veterinary hospital and expert DM Navin Kumar had treated the tiger and have opined that it died of old age complications," a press note from the zoo had stated at the time.
The post-mortem report of Vinay's death stated that the animal died from senility-induced asphyxia.