THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Soon after the capital lost two big cats, the sole lioness left at the Lion Safari Park at Neyyar also breathed its last on Wednesday morning. The 21-year-old lioness named Bindu had been ailing for the past one week and was on medication and glucose drip. The nasal and oropharyngeal swabs from the animal have been sent to the State Institute of Animal Diseases (SIAD), Palode, from where they will be sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal for Covid test.
A team of two doctors performed the postmortem on the animal. “The lioness wasn’t keeping well for a week. It was pretty old and our inference is that the death was due to age-related diseases. The lung was observed as fibrosed. We do not suspect Covid-19 in the animal,” says Dr S V Shiju, assistant forest veterinary officer who was treating the lion and who was part of the postmortem team.
The tissues of the organs such as heart, lungs, liver, and spleen are being sent to the State Institute of Animal Diseases(SIAD),Palode for histopathology. “While in the wild the maximum lifespan of a lion is 10 to 12 years while that in captivity it is 15-18. The lioness was 21 years of age. It is not an estimated age as it was born in the park itself. So it was at a pretty advanced age,” he said.
The lioness was found dead in its cage at 6 am.
“The lioness wasn’t well for a week and wasn’t taking food in the past few days. The samples are sent for testing for Covid only as per protocol,” says G Sandeep Kumar, assistant wildlife warden, Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary.
Earlier, Nagaraj, a 12-year-old lion, was found dead near its enclosure at the Lion Safari Park.
Nagaraj and Bindu were the only lions residing in the Lion Safari Park. The capital had also lost a tiger recently. The samples that were taken from the deceased lion in the Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary and from the deceased tiger from the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo were sent to the Bhopal for Covid testing and turned out negative.
T’PURAM RECORDS 2,380 COVID POSITIVE CASES
T’Puram: The district recorded 2,380 Covid-19 positive cases on Wednesday. The test positivity rate is 16.8 percent. 2,531 persons have recovered. In all 14,633 persons are currently being treated for Covid-19 in the district. Among those diagnosed with the disease on Wednesday, 2,241 were infected through contact, including 10 health workers. As many as 4,374 people have been placed in quarantine for showing symptoms of Covid-19. In all, 71,649 persons are in quarantine.