NEW DELHI: The last surviving cub of Nirbhaya, a six-year-old white tigress which had died due to birth complications at Delhi zoo on December 14, has breathed its last despite the best efforts by a team of veterinarians, said zoo officials said on Wednesday.
The tiger cub succumbed to “acute illness” on Tuesday.
“Nirbhaya had given birth to two cubs on December 10. However, she had developed complications due to her inability to release the remaining cub and had died four days later. The other was being hand-reared at a veterinary hospital by a dedicated team, but unfortunately, the efforts did not pay off,” said director of the zoo Ramesh Pandey.
According to Pandey, earlier, the doctors were making best efforts to save the mother first and then, the cubs. Subsequently, a team of veterinarians had been constantly looking after the cub.
“The post-mortem has been completed and the viscera is being sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute for further examinations,” the zoo director added.
At present, the zoo has a pair of normal-coated Bengal tigers and five white tigers. Recently, the Delhi zoo had held a workshop — ‘Management of Big Cats in captivity’ — to sensitise keepers and attendants about various issues with big cats and how to deal with them along with increasing the knowledge about the animals.
Before Nirbhaya, a 15-year-old male Royal Bengal Tiger had succumbed to a prolong kidney ailment at the zoo a few months back.